State v. Horton
| Decision Date | 30 June 1869 |
| Citation | 63 N.C. 595 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | THE STATE v. JOHN HORTON. |
If a bill of indictment be endorsed “a true bill,” by mistake, when the Grand Jury had ordered their Clerk to endorse it “ not a true bill,” the defendant may show that fact by affidavit or otherwise, either upon a motion to quash or upon a plea in abatement, and thereupon the indictment should be quashed.
( State v. Cain, 1 Hawks, 352, State v. Roberts, 2 D. & B. 542, and State v. Barnes, 7 Jon. 20, cited and approved.)
AFFRAY, before Henry, J., at WATAUGA, Spring Term, 1869.
The defendant moved to quash the indictment, and offered to show that the endorsement, “a true bill,” was entered by a mistake of the clerk of the grand jury, the finding having really been “ not a true bill.”
His Honor directed the defendant to file a plea in abatement to that effect, which having been done the Solicitor demurred.
Judgment for the defendant, and Appeal by the State.
Attorney General, for the State .
No counsel contra.
Undoubtedly one can not be put on trial for a crime before a true bill has been found against him by the grand jury; and whether a true bill has been found, is, of course, a question of fact to be determined by the Court before the defendant can be required to appear and make defense. The indictment itself, with the endorsement of the grand jury, returned in open Court, is the usual evidence of the fact; and when the Court receives the indictment with the endorsement, it becomes a part of the judicial proceedings in the case, and the defendant is put on trial before the petit jury. But the defendant has a right first to enquire whether he has been charged by the grand jury. The indictment endorsed “a true bill,” is prima facie sufficient, but it would be strange if that which was done in his absence were conclusive. He has the right to allege and to prove that no true bill has been found, and to have that which falsely purports to be such, quashed, and to be discharged. In Bishop's Criminal Law, sec. 448, it is said: ...
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