State v. Hodges

• Decision Date: 10 December 1907
• Citation: 207 Mo. 517,106 S.W. 51
• Parties: STATE v. HODGES.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

106 S.W. 51

207 Mo. 517

STATE v. HODGES.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.

December 10, 1907.

CRIMINAL LAW — DETERMINATION OF CAUSE — APPEAL BEFORE SENTENCE — REMAND.

Where, on appeal, it appears that no judgment has been entered on the verdict of conviction, the submission of the appeal will be set aside, and the case remanded with directions to enter judgment against the defendant upon the verdict.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Shannon County; Wm. N. Evans, Judge.

George G. Hodges was convicted of killing fish with dynamite, and appeals. Remanded, with directions to enter judgment against defendant on the verdict as returned by the jury.

E. J. Shuck and Clark & Yount, for appellant. The Attorney General and N. T. Gentry, for the State.

FOX, P. J.

The defendant in this cause was charged in the circuit court of Shannon county with throwing dynamite in certain waters of this state, whereby the fish in said waters might have been killed, injured, or destroyed, and whereby a large quantity of fish in said waters were killed, caught, and taken from said waters, in violation of section 7456, Rev. St. 1899 [Ann. St. 1906, p. 3593]. The defendant was convicted of said offense and fined in the sum of $100, and the cause is pending in this court upon appeal from the verdict of the jury returned in said cause.

The index to the record in this cause designates that the judgment may be found on page 3 thereof. Doubtless this erroneous index occasioned the misapprehension by the Attorney General, as well as counsel for appellant, as to what the record really disclosed. Counsel on both sides submitted this case upon the idea that a final judgment had been rendered. We considered the questions presented to our consideration by the briefs of the Attorney General and counsel for appellant, and handed down, at our last sitting, the conclusions reached upon those questions. The clerk of this court since the last sitting of this division has called our attention to the fact that the record fails to disclose any final judgment rendered in this cause. Upon this state of the record it is apparent that this appeal was prematurely taken. Appeals in cases of this character are only provided for from final judgments.

Adopting the course of procedure which is fully recognized in State v. Holland, 160 Mo. 667, 61 S. W. 620, State v. McClain, 137 Mo., loc. cit. 317, 38 S. W. 906, State v. Shea, 95 Mo., loc. cit. 95, 8 S. W. 409, State v. Gullic, 170 Mo. 334, 71 S....