State v. Koski
| Decision Date | 27 April 1926 |
| Docket Number | 5265. |
| Citation | 133 S.E. 79,101 W.Va. 477 |
| Parties | STATE v. KOSKI. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
A juror is not disqualified by reason of having served on a jury at the same term of court in the trial of a case for a similar offense, provided he satisfies the court by unequivocal and satisfactory answers to questions that regardless thereof he can give the prisoner a fair trial according to the law and the evidence produced on the trial.
A "bill of particulars" is for the purpose of furnishing details omitted from the accusation or indictment, and, where the bill of particulars furnished by the state, read in connection with the indictment, fully informs the defendant of the nature of the offense with which he is charged, the time and place of the commission thereof it is sufficient.
[Ed Note.-For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, First and Second Series, Bill of Particulars.]
Instructions are properly refused, where other instructions, given fully and sufficiently, cover the principles of law laid down in the rejected instructions.
Error to Circuit Court, Marshall County.
Joe Koski was convicted of selling intoxicating liquors, and he brings error. Affirmed.
Martin Brown, of Moundsville, for plaintiff in error.
Howard B. Lee, Atty. Gen., and R. A. Blessing, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Upon an indictment charging him with selling liquor, defendant was convicted and sentenced to serve six months in jail, and to pay a fine of $500.
Glen Coe testified that he went to the Koski house, in Moundsville, Marshall county; was admitted; asked for a pop bottle full of liquor; received the same from hands of defendant Joe Koski; and paid him $1 for the same. H. G Smith, a prohibition officer, testified that he searched witness Coe before he started out to make the said purchase; that he watched him enter the Koski house and saw him come out; that the liquor introduced in evidence as a part of Coe's testimony was found on Coe's person after he came out of the house. The defendant denies making the sale.
The several assignments of error set out in defendant's petition will be considered in their order.
It is contended that the court erred in leaving Lester McSwain on the panel of twenty jurors, since he had been a member of the jury which had rendered a verdict of guilty in a similar case against defendant's brother on a former day of said term of court. McSwain, on his voir dire, testified that he did not know defendant; had formed or expressed no opinion as to his guilt or innocence; was conscious of no bias or prejudice for or against him; and that he could give defendant a fair and impartial trial, and return a verdict according to the law and the evidence. A juror is not disqualified by reason of having served on a jury at the same term of court in the trial of a case for a similar offense. McSwain satisfied the presiding judge of his fairness and impartiality to serve as a juror, and was properly left on the panel. State v. Richards (W. Va.) 132 S.E. 375 (not yet [officially] reported); State v. Larue, 98 W.Va. 677, 128 S.E. 116; State v. Porter, 98 W.Va. 390, 127 S.E. 386; State v. Toney, 98 W.Va. 236, 127 S.E. 35.
The indictment in the instant case was drawn under the statute and charged that defendant, on the _____day of October, 1923, "did unlawfully sell, offer, keep, store, and expose for sale, and solicit and receive orders for liquors and absinthe, and drinks compounded with absinthe." The state, on motion of the defendant, filed a bill of particulars indicating that she would "attempt to prove sales of intoxicating liquors." And defendant assigns the court's refusal to...
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