Prince v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 22 September 1892 |
| Parties | Prince v. Commonwealth. |
| Court | Virginia Supreme Court |
Jury—Impaneling—Challenge.
1. Code, § 4018, provides that, "if more than two cases are to be tried at one term of the court, only two juries shall be summoned, unless the court or judge otherwise direct; and the juries so summoned may be used for the trial of all the cases." Held, that defendant, who was convicted of a felony, cannot complain that "there was no venire facias in the case, " where it appears that, for the trial of his and two other felony cases during the term, a venire was issued for a jury in each of the three cases, and defendant was tried by a jury composed of persons thus summoned.
2. The objection that a juror resides at the place where the offense is alleged to have been committed, can only be raised as to the individual juror, rather than to the array.
Appeal from circuit court, Wythe county.
One Prince was convicted of maliciously shooting Edward Galloway, and sentenced to nine years' imprisonment, and brings error. Affirmed.
J. J. A. Powel, for appellant.
The Attorney General, for the Commonwealth.
Lewis, P. The first assignment of error, viz., the judgment is erroneous because there was no venire facias in the case, is not well taken. It appears from the record that there were two felony cases besides the prisoner's case to be tried at the same term at which he was tried; that a venire was duly issued for a jury in each of those cases; and that the jury that tried the prisoner was composed of persons who had thus been summoned. The statute provides that, "if more than two cases are to be tried at one term of the court, only two juries shall be summoned, unless the court or judge otherwise direct, " and "that the juries so summoned may be used for the trial or all the cases. " Code, § 4018. This statute, the meaning and effect of which is unmistakable, is decisive of the point just mentioned.
The next and last error assigned is that two of the jurors resided at the place where the offense was alleged to have been committed, viz., Rural Retreat, a station on the Norfolk & Western Railroad, in Wythe county. As to this it is enough to say that there was no objection to the individual jurors on that ground in the trial court. A similar point was overruled in Craft's Case, 24 Grat. 602, on the ground that the objection, if valid at all, could have been made, not to the array of jurors, but to the individual juror only; and to the same...
To continue reading
Request your trial