People v. Cohen

• Decision Date: 24 June 1915
• Docket Number: No. 10031.,10031.
• Citation: People v. Cohen, 268 Ill. 416, 109 N.E. 259 (Ill. 1915)
• Parties: PEOPLE v. COHEN et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

268 Ill. 416

109 N.E. 259

PEOPLE

v.COHEN et al.

No. 10031.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 24, 1915.

Error to Criminal Court, Cook County; Adelor J. Petit, Judge.

Harry Cohen and others were convicted of larceny. Their application for a change of venue was denied, and they bring error. Reversed and remanded.

Charles B. Stafford, of Chicago, for plaintiffs in error.

P. J. Lucey, Atty. Gen., Maclay Hoyne, State's Atty., of Chicago, and George P. Ramsey, of Springfield, for the People.

DUNN, J.

The plaintiffs in error were convicted of larceny, and insist that the court erred in denying their application for a change of venue on account of the prejudice of the judge.

The petition for a change of venue and the accompanying affidavits complied with the statute, and the right to a change of venue was therefore absolute. Cantwell v. People, 138 Ill. 602, 28 N. E. 964.

It is insisted on the part of the people that reasonable notice was not given of the application for a change of venue. There had been several continuances, and the case was set for trial on September 14, 1914. On that day the plaintiffs in error, through their attorney, asked for a continuance of three weeks on account of the death of the attorney's partner, who had had charge of the case. The motion was denied about half past 10 o'clock in the morning, but a continuance was allowed until the next day. On the same day notice was served of the application for a change of venue, and the affidavits showed that knowledge of that prejudice had come to the plaintiffs in error at 10 o'clock in the morning of that day.

It is insisted that no written notice of the application was required, that the...