State v. Younger
| Decision Date | 27 May 1947 |
| Docket Number | 9916. |
| Parties | STATE v. YOUNGER. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by the Court.
A warrant issued by a justice of the peace which charges that the defendant did unlawfully appear in a public place in an intoxicated condition, and which specifies a date one day prior to the issuance of the warrant and designates the place within the jurisdiction of the justice at which such conduct occurred, sufficiently states a statutory offense and is good on demurrer and motion to quash.
Ira J. Partlow, Atty. Gen., and J. Chandler Curd, Asst. Atty Gen., for plaintiff in error.
No appearance for defendant in error.
This writ of error presents the question of the sufficiency of a warrant, issued by a justice of the peace of Preston County, West Virginia, on October 10, 1946, which charges that the defendant, Charles Younger, 'did commit a Misdemeanor, in that he, the said Charles Younger on the 9th day of October, 1946, and prior to the issuance of this warrant, in said County, did unlawfully appear in a public place in an intoxicated condition, to-wit; on the streets of Kingwood, a Corporation in said County'.
The defendant was tried upon the warrant before the justice, was convicted, and was sentenced to pay a fine of $10 and costs and to be confined in the jail of Preston County for a period of ten days. He appealed from the judgment of the justice to the Circuit Court of Preston County.
When the case was docketed for hearing in that court the defendant made a motion to quash and entered his written demurrer to the warrant. Five separate grounds were assigned in support of the motion to quash and the demurrer. The circuit court being of the opinion that three of the assignments were well taken, sustained the demurrer. The case is here on writ of error granted upon the petition of the State of West Virginia.
Though the order entered by the circuit court does not in terms dismiss the proceeding and merely sustains the demurrer, such order is in effect a final judgment which is reviewable by writ of error. At common law a judgment which sustained a demurrer to an indictment because fatally defective in substance and incapable of amendment operated to discharge the prisoner and was considered as final. Action of a trial court in sustaining a demurrer to a warrant in a criminal case in which an appeal is pending in such court is a final judgment and is reviewable by writ of error. State v. O'Brien, 102 W.Va. 83, 134 S.E. 464. In that case this Court concluded that by virtue of the statute then in effect, Section 31, Chapter 135, Code of West Virginia, 1923, which, with amendments which do not here apply, is embodied in Section 30, Article 5, Chapter 58, Code of West Virginia, 1931, a writ of error may be obtained by the State to secure a review by this Court of the judgment of a circuit court which holds that a warrant is bad or insufficient.
In substance, the grounds upon which the circuit court based its action in sustaining the demurrer were: (1) Failure to specify an ordinance or a statute on which to base the warrant; (2) failure to state the particular conduct of the defendant; and (3) failure to state any specific offense. The State vigorously challenges in this Court the sufficiency of any of these assignments. No brief has been filed and no appearance has been entered here in behalf of the defendant.
It is manifest, from the language of the warrant, that the alleged offense did not consist in the violation of any municipal ordinance. The jurisdiction of a justice of the peace in criminal cases is conferred by statute, State v McKain, 56 W.Va. 128, 49 S.E. 20; and in the absence...
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