Stokes v. State

Decision Date17 January 1916
Docket Number114
Citation182 S.W. 521,122 Ark. 56
PartiesSTOKES v. STATE
CourtArkansas Supreme Court

Appeal from Washington Circuit Court; J. S. Maples, Judge; reversed.

Judgment reversed and appeal dismissed.

E. L Matlock, for appellant.

The offense is barred by limitation. The plea of guilty was entered without advice of counsel, and without knowledge whether he was guilty or not of a crime. An appeal is a matter of right. Acts 1905, Act No. 151, 1. The action in praying an appeal was a withdrawal of his plea of guilty. It was within the discretion of the court to permit the withdrawal of the plea of guilty and be tried upon a plea of not guilty. 114 Ark. 234.

Wallace Davis, Attorney General, and Hamilton Moses, Assistant, for appellee.

1. Wife abandonment is a continuing offense--a crime and the wife is a competent witness. Kirby's Digest, § 3092; 78 S.W 640.

2. The offense is not barred. Kirby's Digest, 2107; 42 Ark. 110; 108 Ark. 76; 65 N.E. 1.

OPINION

HART J.

The deputy prosecuting attorney of Washington County, Arkansas, filed an information before a justice of the peace of said county, charging the defendant, Harry G. Stokes, with the statutory crime of abandoning his wife and child. See Acts 1909, page 134.

The defendant entered a plea of guilty, and his punishment was fixed by the justice of the peace at a fine of $ 75 and imprisonment for sixty days in the county jail.

Within the time allowed by statute he prayed and was granted an appeal to the circuit court of Washington County. When his case came on for trial in the circuit court he was permitted to withdraw his plea of guilty and to enter a plea of not guilty. He was tried and convicted in the circuit court and the jury fixed his punishment at a fine of $ 350 and one years' imprisonment in the county jail.

From the judgment of conviction the defendant prosecutes this appeal.

The circuit court should have dismissed the appeal of the defendant. The defendant entered his plea of guilty before the justice of the peace. In doing so he confessed himself guilty in the manner and form as charged against him in the information.

Where the facts alleged in an information or indictment do not constitute an offense, the defendant has lost nothing by pleading guilty, and on appeal may attack the indictment or information for the first time. Fletcher v. State, 12 Ark. 169.

In the instant case we have not set out the information. It was filed under Act 52 of the Acts of 1909 and charged the defendant with the crime of wife abandonment. It was substantially in the language of the act and no objection has been made or could be made as to its form.

The defendant pleaded guilty when he was arraigned before the justice of the peace and sentence was there pronounced against him. His plea of guilty as received by the court and recorded was an admission of any offense well charged in the information. Unless it was withdrawn by leave of the court there would be nothing left to be...

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16 cases
  • Dickerson, Etc. v. Commonwealth
    • United States
    • Virginia Supreme Court
    • March 22, 1934
    ...was that under the facts of that case the plea of guilty was not a bar to an appeal. City of Edina Beck, 47 Mo.App. 234; Stokes State, 122 Ark. 56, 182 S.W. 521; Philpots State, 65 N.H. 250, 20 Atl. 955; State Emsweller (State Jenkins), 78 W.Va. 214, 88 S.E. 787 (Dictum); Nicely Butcher, 81......
  • Davis v. Burris
    • United States
    • Arizona Supreme Court
    • January 31, 1938
    ... ... or narcotic drugs, or who is a habitual user of narcotic ... drugs, who shall drive any vehicle upon any highway within ... this state, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and punished by ... imprisonment in the county jail for not less than thirty nor ... more than ninety days. No ... a judgment and sentence on such plea, except perhaps upon ... jurisdictional questions. Stokes v. State, ... 122 Ark. 56, 182 S.W. 521; State v. Stone, ... 101 W.Va. 53, 131 S.E. 872; State v ... Bergeron, 152 La. 38, 92 So. 726; Browsky ... ...
  • Burris v. Davis, Civil 3661
    • United States
    • Arizona Supreme Court
    • July 8, 1935
    ... ... and sentence on such plea, except perhaps upon jurisdictional ... questions. Stokes v. State, 122 Ark. 56, ... 182 S.W. 521; State v. Stone, 101 W.Va. 53, ... 131 S.E. 872; State v. Bergeron, 152 La ... 38, 92 So. 726; Browsky v ... ...
  • State v. Dawn
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • June 17, 1925
    ...35 L. R. A., N. S., 1146; Ex parte De Loche, 50 Tex. Cr. 525, 100 S.W. 923; State v. Thomas, 9 Ala. App. 1, 63 So. 688; Stokes v. State, 122 Ark. 56, 182 S.W. 521.) A. LEE, C. J. Taylor, J., concurs, GIVENS, J., Concurring Specially. WM. E. LEE, J., Concurring in Part and Dissenting in Part......
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