State v. Greene
| Decision Date | 22 April 1885 |
| Citation | 23 N.W. 154,66 Iowa 11 |
| Parties | THE STATE v. GREENE |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Mills District Court.
THE defendant was convicted of the crime of larceny, and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in the penitentiary, and from this judgment he appeals.
AFFIRMED.
Z. T Fisher, for defendant.
A. J Baker, Attorney-general, for the State.
After the defendant was arraigned, he filed a demurrer to the indictment. The demurrer was overruled, and thereupon without any plea having been entered, a jury was impaneled, and defendant was put upon trial on the indictment. The state introduced evidence tending to establish the charge against him, and defendant was permitted to introduce evidence tending to exculpate himself from the charge, and the case was argued by counsel for both parties. It was tried in every respect just as it would have been if a plea of not guilty had been entered, and the questions which were submitted to the jury for determination were the same that would have been submitted under that plea. The jury by their verdict found the defendant guilty of larceny as charged in the indictment. They also found that the value of the stolen property exceeded $ 20. After the verdict was returned, defendant filed a motion in arrest of judgment, on the ground that the verdict was a nullity, for that, as defendant had not pleaded to the indictment, there was no issue which could be tried by the jury. At the same time he also filed a plea of "not guilty." The court overruled the motion in arrest, and pronounced judgment against defendant on the verdict. The single ground on which we are asked to reverse the judgment is that the court erred in overruling the motion in arrest of judgment. We think there are two satisfactory answers to the claim that we should reverse the judgment on this ground.
I. When the demurrer to the indictment was overruled, defendant had the right at once to put in a plea. Upon his failure to plead, the district court had the power to impanel a jury to inquire and ascertain the degree of the offense, and, when that question was determined, to enter the proper judgment against him on the demurrer. Code, § 4358. The only question which it was necessary for the jury to determine in order to fix the degree of the offense was whether the value of the stolen property exceed $ 20. That question was submitted to and determined by the jury, so that, when the judgment was pronounced, nothing was wanting to empower the court to enter the judgment which it did enter. It is true, the court submitted to the jury the question whether defendant was guilty of the offense charged in the indictment. But he was in no manner prejudiced by this. The court need not have...
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