Washington v. State

Decision Date30 June 1914
Docket Number563
Citation66 So. 34,188 Ala. 101
PartiesWASHINGTON v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Supreme Court

Rehearing Denied July 25, 1914

Appeal from Circuit Court, Greene County; Bernard Harwood, Judge.

Eugene Washington was convicted of robbery, and he appeals. Affirmed.

The transcript shows that the case of the state of Alabama against Eugene Washington was tried at a regular term of the circuit court of Greene county, begun and held on September 22, 1913, it being the time and place fixed by law for holding such court. Following this are the affidavits and warrants, and the judgment on the preliminary trial, and the indictment found and returned into court March 27, 1913. Then follows the special waiver and the judgment of the court, and then the bill of exceptions.

Wright & Fite, of Tuscaloosa, for appellant.

R.C Brickell, Atty. Gen., and T.H. Seay, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

SAYRE J.

The rules adopted by this court June 23, 1913, dispose of defendant's objections that the transcript fails to show the organization of the court at the trial term and the organization of the grand jury by which the indictment was found, no question as to the power of the court to try this case at the term or time having been raised, nor any as to the lawful organization of the grand jury. Supreme Court rules, 175 Ala. xviii, 57 South. vi, 61 South. vii. And if the record were defective in this respect the result would be that defendant's appeal would be dismissed.

Defendant filed a paper writing, whereby he waived "the summoning and impaneling of a special jury" to try his case, and also the service of a copy of the indictment upon him. We will not be expected to devote much argument to a demonstration of the proposition that the waiver of a special venire was a waiver of the right to a venire and of the service of a copy of a venire which was not called into existence by an order of the court, for the reason that the thing itself had been duly waived as the statute provided it might be.

There is no reason, constitutional or other, why a defendant in a capital case may not waive a special venire. Section 7264 of the Code of 1907 so provides. The act of August 31, 1909 entitled "An act 'to prescribe the qualifications of jurors and regulate the selection, drawing and summoning of jurors, and prescribe the qualifications and provide for the appointment of jury commissioners and clerks of such commissions and regulate the impaneling of grand and petit juries, in all the courts of this state' " (Acts Sp.Sess., 305, et seq.) and providing that "all laws general, special or local, regulating the selection, drawing, summoning or impaneling of grand or petit juries, or prescribing the qualifications of jurors, or defining who are exempt from jury service, or exempting certain persons or classes of persons from service upon juries, are hereby expressly repealed, it being the intent of the Legislature, that, this act shall be the exclusive law on such subjects, in all the courts of the state of Alabama" (section 32), did not affect the subject of the waiver authorized by section 7264 of the Code, as it did not touch a number of other sections which relate to the conduct of jury trials. This was held in McSwean v. State, 175 Ala. 21, 57 So. 732.

The prosecuting witness, Woodie Murphy, testified that as he was driving a wagon along the road about three-quarters of a mile from Eutaw, defendant and five other negroes, masked and with weapons and threats, required him to deliver up money he had on his person.

Defendant reserved exception to the action of the court in sustaining an objection to the following question: "Don't you know that in a case like that if none of them have masks on their faces it...

To continue reading

Request your trial
5 cases
  • Patterson v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • May 16, 1918
    ... ... bill of exceptions also sets out that upon being arraigned ... the defendants pleaded not guilty, "and then and there ... waived a special venire and consented in writing to be tried ... by the jurors in attendance upon the court." McSwean ... v. State, 175 Ala. 21, 57 So. 732; Washington v ... State, 188 Ala. 101, 66 So. 34; Burton v ... State, 194 Ala. 2, 69 So. 913; Harper v. State, ... 13 Ala.App. 47, 69 So. 302 ... It has ... been declared that threats against a class may be given in ... evidence when the party injured is of that class. Such a ... threat may ... ...
  • Wilburn v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • February 24, 1989
    ...indictment. Initially, we note that, since this issue was not raised at trial, it has not been preserved for review. Washington v. State, 188 Ala. 101, 66 So. 34, 36 (1914); Harris v. State, 420 So.2d 812, 816 Moreover, even had objection been made, the evidence of the subsequent abuse was ......
  • White v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • May 31, 1923
    ...there was no special venire. Patterson v. State, 202 Ala. 65, 66, 79 So. 459; Burton v. State, 194 Ala. 2, 69 So. 913; Washington v. State, 188 Ala. 101, 66 So. 34; McSwean v. State, 175 Ala. 21, 57 So. The defendant also waived the service of a copy of the indictment. Section 6 of the Cons......
  • Robinson v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • March 13, 1952
    ...a right to waive a special venire. White v. State, 209 Ala. 546, 96 So. 709; Patterson v. State, 202 Ala. 65, 79 So. 459; Washington v. State, 188 Ala. 101, 66 So. 34. The appeal in this case is not governed by the provisions of the automatic appeal statute, since the death sentence was not......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT