State v. Stevens
| Decision Date | 10 January 1891 |
| Citation | 1 S.D. 480,47 N.W. 546 |
| Parties | State v. Stevens. |
| Court | South Dakota Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Syllabus by the Court.
The statute (section 7236, Comp. Laws) requiring the names of the witnesses, upon whose evidence the indictment is found, to be inserted at the foot of it, or to be indorsed upon it, is mandatory, and a disregard of the requirement is sufficient ground to authorize the court, upon proper motion, made in apt time, to quash the indictment.
Error to circuit court, Codington county.
J. E. Mellette, for plaintiff in error.
The defendant was indicted at the May, 1890, term of the circuit court of Codington county for obtaining money under false pretenses. He moved to quash the indictment for the reason that the names of two certain witnesses, whom he alleges were examined by the grand jury in relation to the case, were not indorsed upon the indictment prior to its return. The court sustained the motion, whereupon the state appealed.
Section 7236, Comp. Laws, says: “When an indictment is found, the names of the witnesses examined before the grand jury must, in all cases, be inserted at the foot of the indictment, or indorsed thereon, before it is presented to the court.” The statute requiring the names of the witnesses upon whose evidence the indictment is found to be inserted at the foot of it, or to be indorsed upon it, is mandatory, and a disregard of this requirement is sufficient ground to authorize the court, upon proper motion, made in apt time, to quash the indictment. Section 7283, Comp. Laws, says: “The indictment must be set aside by the court in which the defendant was arraigned, and upon his motion in either of the following cases: *** (2) When the names of the witnesses examined before the grand jury are not inserted at the foot of the indictment, or indorsed thereon.” This provision of the statute but emphasizes the mandatory character of section 7236. It must be presumed that this requirement was made for some just and wise purpose. No doubt the object was for the benefit of the accused; to give him the opportunity of knowing who were his accusers, and by whom the state expected to establish the charge preferred, in order that he might be the better prepared to meet it. To protect the innocent, and punish the guilty, are the two great objects to be kept in view in the administration of criminal jurisprudence. While, upon the one hand, the law will hold the offender to a strict accountability, it should, upon the other,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Boulter v. State
...v. People, 26 id., 496; How. Stat. Mich. Sec. 9549; Reg. v. Frost, 9 Car. & P., 147; Rex v. Lord, 2 Gord. & Doug., 591; State v. Stevens; 1 S. D., 480; Comp. L. S. D., Sec. 7236; State v. Dickson, 6 209; State v. Medlicott, 9 id., 257; U. S. Rev. Stat., Sec. 1033; Logan v. U.S. 144 U.S. 304......
-
State v. McDonald
...State v. Pool, 20 Or. 150, 25 Pac. 375; Stevens v. State, 19 Neb. 647, 28 N.W. 304; Parks v. State, 20 Neb. 515, 31 N.W. 5; State v. Stevens, 1 S.D. 480, 47 N.W. 546.' A re-examination of the statutes and the purposes underlying their enactment lead us to the conclusion that we were then in......
-
State v. Warren
... ... by the executive officers of the law, that the defendant may ... receive the full benefit designed for him by the legislature ... State v. Smith, 33 Or. 483, 55 P. 534; State v ... Andrews, 35 Or. 388, 391, 58 P. 765; Stevens v ... State, 19 Neb. 647, 28 N.W. 304; Parks v ... State, 20 Neb. 515, 31 N.W. 5; and State v. Stevens ... (S.D.) 47 N.W. 546. We are of the opinion, however, that ... the examination of witnesses before a coroner's jury at ... an inquest, touching the cause of the ... ...
-
State v. Church
...the foot of the indictment, and section 7283 declares the effect of a failure to do so. These sections were applied in State v. Stevens, 1 S.D. 480, 47 N.W. 546 (1891), but we find nothing either in the spirit or the letter of the law forbidding the state to use other witnesses than those e......