State v. Rooney, 27773.

Decision Date19 December 1939
Docket Number27773.
Citation97 P.2d 156,2 Wn.2d 17
PartiesSTATE v. ROONEY.
CourtWashington Supreme Court

Department 1.

W. Pat Rooney was convicted of bribery, and he appeals.

Affirmed.

Appeal from Superior Court, Spokane County; Lloyd L. Black, judge.

Gleeson & Gleeson, of Spokane, for appellant.

Ralph E. Foley and Leslie M. Carroll, both of Spokane, for respondent.

MAIN Justice.

W. Pat Rooney, a member of the board of county commissioners of Spokane county, was charged, by indictment, with the crime of bribery. In the indictment, there were eight counts separately stated, all of which were in the same language except as to dates, amounts, and persons. The charging part of Count I was as follows: 'That said W. Pat Rooney, in the County of Spokane, State of Washington, on or about the 15th day of December, 1937, being then and there an executive and administrative officer of Spokane County, State of Washington, duly elected, qualified and acting as such to-wit: a County Commissioner, and as such, under the provisions of Chapter 180 of the Laws of Washington for 1937 [page 697], then and there had pending Before him and to be brought Before him in his official capacity the selection of certain restaurants where single persons receiving public assistance would be sent for meals to be paid for direct to the owners or proprietors of said restaurants from public funds, and the said W. Pat Rooney, as said county officer exercised the authority to designate and select the restaurants to which said indigent persons were to be sent to receive said meals, and he, the said W. Pat Rooney, did then and there fraudulently, corruptly, willfully, unlawfully and feloniously, directly and indirectly, ask for and receive from one Clyde Stewart, who was then and there the proprietor of a restaurant in the City of Spokane, Washington, the sum of Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) in lawful money of the United States as a gratuity, compensation and reward, upon an agreement and understanding then and there by the said W. Pat Rooney that his vote, opinion and action upon the selection of a restaurant, as aforesaid, and the number of said indigent persons to be sent thereto for meals would be influenced thereby.'

Each of the counts was demurred to. All of the demurrers were overruled. The jury, with two alternates, was impaneled and sworn to try the cause at about five o'clock p. m. on June 21, 1939. The following morning, out of the presence of the jury, the appellant's then counsel moved the court to quash the panel, basing his motion on a conversation that he had had with W. N. Simanton in which the latter claimed that he heard one of the jurors make certain derogatory remarks relative to the accused prior to the time he had been selected as a juror. The matter first came to the attention of the attorney subsequent to the adjournment of court the previous evening. This motion was denied, the court stating that, if the accused was convicted, the matter could be raised on a motion for a new trial. At the conclusion of the trial, the accused was convicted upon all of the counts. He moved for a new trial. One of the grounds was the claim that two of the jurors, sometime Before the case was called for trial, made statements which indicated a bias or prejudice against the accused. This motion was supported and resisted by affidavits. The trial court denied the motion, and, from the judgment and sentence, the accused appealed.

It is first claimed that the indictment was not sufficiently definite to comply with the requirements of Rem.Rev.Stat. § 2055, which provides, in...

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9 cases
  • State v. Dixon
    • United States
    • Washington Supreme Court
    • January 14, 1971
    ...Acts or conduct described in a penal statute in the disjunctive or alternative may be pleaded in the conjunctive. State v. Rooney, 2 Wash.2d 17, 97 P.2d 156 (1939). If the charge is in the conjunctive, the information is held to charge a single crime committed in any one or all of the ways ......
  • State v. Metcalf, 1434--II
    • United States
    • Washington Court of Appeals
    • August 27, 1975
    ...Acts or conduct described in a penal statute in the disjunctive or alternative may be pleaded in the conjunctive. State v. Rooney, 2 Wash.2d 17, 97 P.2d 156 (1939). If the charge is in the conjunctive, the information is held to charge a single crime committed in any one or all of the ways ......
  • State v. Jiminez, No. 51114-9-I (Wash. App. 12/15/2003)
    • United States
    • Washington Court of Appeals
    • December 15, 2003
    ...P.2d 575 (1989). 27. State v. Summers, 60 Wn.2d 702, 706, 375 P.2d 143 (1962). 28. See Summers, 60 Wn.2d at 706. 29. State v. Rooney, 2 Wn.2d 17, 19, 97 P.2d 156 (1939). 30. State v. Parmenter, 74 Wn.2d 343, 352, 444 P.2d 680 31. Parmenter, 74 Wn.2d at 352. 32. State v. Metcalf, 14 Wn. App.......
  • State v. Wright
    • United States
    • Washington Court of Appeals
    • January 13, 1975
    ...on appeal the ruling of the trial court should not be disturbed, in the absence of a showing of an abuse of discretion. State v. Rooney, 2 Wash.2d 17, 97 P.2d 156, and cases therein State v. Whetstone, 30 Wash.2d 301, 346, 191 P.2d 818, 843 (1948). The trial court resolved the issue against......
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