State v. Nichols

• Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: MOISE
• Citation: State v. Nichols, 216 La. 622, 44 So.2d 318 (La. 1950)
• Decision Date: 09 January 1950
• Docket Number: No. 39588,39588
• Parties: STATE v. NICHOLS.

Page 318

44 So.2d 318

216 La. 622

STATE v. NICHOLS.

No. 39588.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Jan. 9, 1950.

Earl Edwards, John P. Laborde, Marksville, for defendant and appellant.

Bolivar E. Kemp, Jr., Atty. Gen., M. E. Culligan, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chas. A. Riddle, Jr., Dis. Atty., Marksville, for appellee.

MOISE, Justice.

The defendant Allan Nichols, was indicted, tried and convicted of 'the crime of Manslaughter' and was sentenced to serve 4 years and 10 months in the penitentiary. From this conviction and sentence he appeals.

The record reveals that the indictment was returned against the defendant on May 21, 1949. He was arraigned on May 25, 1949, and entered a plea of 'not guilty', which he later withdrew for the purpose of filing a motion to quash the indictment and to quash and set aside the petit jury venire. The case was fixed for trial on June 15, 1949, the term of court having opened on June 6, 1949. On June 14, 1949, the court gave the defendant permission to withdraw his plea of 'not guilty' so that he might file a motion to quash the indictment. This motion was taken up, tried and overruled on June 15, 1949, and immediately thereafter the accused was placed on trial and found guilty as charged and sentenced.

The motion to quash the indictment and set aside the petit jury venire is based on six grounds:

First, that the indictment charging the accused '* * * does not set forth any crime or the violation of any criminal statute of this state'. We have held in the case of State v. Iseringhausen, 204 La. 593, 16 So.2d 65, 69, that such an indictment does set forth the crime of manslaughter: '* * * It is sufficient to charge the accused in the language of the statute, and he would need no further information to put him on his guard in the preparation of his defense.'

Second, that '* * * Article 31 of the Criminal Code, covering the crime of manslaughter * * * is unconstitutional in that the crime intended to be denounced thereby is inadequately and improperly defined'. To our mind, Article 31 of the Criminal Code, defining the crime of manslaughter, makes clearly manifest the offense intended to be defined.

Third, that Article 235 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended, authorizing the short form indictment, is unconstitutional, in that the crime of manslaughter merely charges the defendant with 'unlawful killing', and that the accused is not sufficiently informed of the nature of the charge against him, as required by the Constitution of the State. The weight of our jurisprudence upholds the constitutionality of Article 235 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the short form of indictment set forth therein.

In State v. Capaci, 179 La. 462, 154 So. 419, 423, in considering Articles 235 and 248 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this Court held that these articles dealt '* * * exclusively with the confection of indictments, a matter of pleading, and do not change the substantive law as to the essential elements of the crime charged.'

In State v. White, 172 La. 1045, 136 So. 47, we stated: 'The indictment, as confected, does not, in our opinion, deprive defendant of due process of law, nor deny to him his constitutional right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him.'

Finally, our Court has completely put at rest, and the jurisprudence is now settled (although some may contend not theoretically correct) that in the codal article providing the short form of indictment the provision to the effect that the district attorney may be required to furnish a bill of particulars setting forth more specifically the nature of the offense charged amply protects the defendant's constitutional guarantee that he shall be fully informed of the nature and character of the accusation. State v. Chanet, 209 La. 410, 24 So.2d 670; State v. Davis, 208 La. 954, 23 So.2d 801, and State v. Iseringhausen, supra.

The fourth, fifth and sixth grounds urged, relating respectively to the impanelling of the Grand Jury, the alleged 'systematic exclusion' of the negro race on the Grand Jury service and Petit Jury service are, in relation to cases of this nature, like Banquo's Ghost, continually popping up. Nevertheless, these grounds have merit.

It is alleged in the motion to quash that there were no Grand Jurors who were Negroes in the regular panel of twenty names from which this particular Grand Jury was drawn. It is further alleged that no negro Grand Juror has served in the Parish of Avoyelles in the last 40 years and that in the entire three hundred names comprising the General Venire, there were only two or three names which were the names of Negroes on the entire panel. The same charge is made as against the Petit Jury which tried this defendant--that in the Petit Jury names drawn, and in fact, in the entire 300 names comprising the General Venire, there were only two or three names included therein of Negroes, and in the Petit Jury for the week during which this defendant was tried, there was only one name of a Negro included thereon and he could not have been accepted because of his relation with the deceased by marriage.

Evidence was taken in which the Sheriff of Avoyelles Parish, the Clerk of Court of the Parish and several members of the Jury Commission were called to testify. The Clerk of Court, who is Ex-officio member of the Jury Commission, testified that he had not placed the names of any Negroes in the Venire and he gave his personal feeling as being of the opinion that Negroes should not serve on juries. He further stated that he had been in public life for some 15 years or more and had never known of a Negro to serve either on a Grand or a Petit Jury. Two members of the Jury Commission were called by the defendant. Both of these testified that they had not placed the names of any Negroes in the Jury Venire. One of these Commissioners testified that he did not know of any Negro jurors at his end of the ward who were qualified to serve.

In connection with the evidence taken by the defendant, exhibits from the 16th...