State v. Blackwell

Decision Date20 December 1948
Docket Number3521.
Citation200 P.2d 698,65 Nev. 405
PartiesSTATE v. BLACKWELL.
CourtNevada Supreme Court

On petition for rehearing.

Rehearing denied.

For original opinion, see 198 P.2d 280.

Ernest S. Brown, of Reno, for appellant.

Alan Bible, Atty. Gen., Homer Mooney, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Harold O. Taber, Dist. Atty., and Grant L. Bowen, Asst. Dist. Atty both of Reno, for respondent.

HATTON District Judge.

In his petition for rehearing, the defendant contends, as heretofore, that the statutory hearing to determine the degree of murder was a trial in the general sense, that the trial commenced on the entering of the defendant's plea of guilty and before the taking of testimony began, that the defendant's jeopardy arose on the entering of his plea of guilty, and that the assignment of the case after plea, by Judge Wines to Judge Brown constituted a mistrial and an acquittal of the defendant. The defendant contends, in substance, that his plea of guilty extended to the charge as of murder only, with an implied denial of guilt as to murder with deliberation and premeditation, or of the first degree. Upon this theory of the situation, the plea was, in part, a plea of not guilty as to deliberation and premeditation. Upon a plea of not guilty jeopardy arises only at the commencement of the trial. In this case, we have held that the 'trial,' or hearing commenced with the presentation of evidence, and not upon the entering of the plea. As held in State v. Ceja, 53 Nev. 272, 298 P. 658, 2 P.2d 124, the hearing is not such a trial as to accord to the defendant the right to a jury. In the present case, the defendant was not denied the established rights under the doctrine of double jeopardy. Even if the hearing were a trial in the full sense, which we do not hold, the defendant incurred only one jeopardy.

Under N.C.L. Section 8407, a judge must assign a case in which he is disqualified under the terms of the section. Defendant argues, in substance, that a judge must not assign a case unless he is so disqualified. We do not believe that defendant's conclusion is a logical inference from the language of the law. The purpose of the provision is in the furtherance of justice by preventing a judge who may be biased from conducting a trial. The statute does not imply that a judge must try all cases which come before him unless he is so disqualified. Many assignments of cases have been, and currently are,...

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13 cases
  • Rainsberger v. State
    • United States
    • Nevada Supreme Court
    • 16 de fevereiro de 1965
    ...v. Ceja, 53 Nev. 272, 298 P. 658, 2 P.2d 124; Ramos v. State, 58 Nev. 446, 83 P.2d 147; State v. Blackwell, 65 Nev. 405, 198 P.2d 280, 200 P.2d 698; Rainsberger v. State, 76 Nev. 158, 350 P.2d 995; Archibald v. State, 77 Nev. 301, 362 P.2d 721; Annot., 34 A.L.R.2d 919. The constitutional sa......
  • State v. Taylor
    • United States
    • Oregon Court of Appeals
    • 16 de março de 1983
    ...397 F.Supp. 655 (D.Mass.1975); Markiewicz v. Black, 138 Colo. 128, 330 P.2d 539 (1958); State v. Blackwell, 65 Nev. 405, 198 P.2d 280, 200 P.2d 698 (1948); Belter v. State, 178 Wis. 57, 189 N.W. 270 (1922); Ray v. State, 231 So.2d 813 (Fla.1970); see also People v. Mims, 136 Cal.App.2d 828,......
  • State v. Carpenter
    • United States
    • Arizona Court of Appeals
    • 10 de setembro de 1965
    ... ... 2 after the dismissal of Count 3 in Action No. 1 is without merit. Moreover, even if the one were included in the other, as no evidence had been taken in Action No. 1 double jeopardy did not attach. State v. Blackwell, 65 Nev. 405, 198 P.2d 280 (1948), rehearing denied, 65 Nev. 425, 200 P.2d 698 (1948), cert. denied, 336 U.S. 939, 69 S.Ct. 742, 93 L.Ed. 1097 (1949); People v. Pearl, 272 App.Div. 563, 74 N.Y.S.2d 108 (1947). Trial counsel did not fail in his duty, as asserted by appellate counsel, when he did ... ...
  • State ex rel. Eastman v. Burke
    • United States
    • Wisconsin Supreme Court
    • 21 de julho de 1965
    ...to determine the degree of the crime of murder, on a plea of guilty, is not a trial. State v. Blackwell (1948), 65 Nev. 405, 198 P.2d 280, 200 P.2d 698; Commonwealth v. Petrillo (1940), 340 Pa. 33, 16 A.2d 50. Yet, it can be fairly said that the acceptance of a plea of guilty and judgment o......
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