Winfrey v. Chandler
| Decision Date | 26 November 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. A-7043,A-7043 |
| Citation | 159 Tex. 220,318 S.W.2d 59 |
| Parties | Honorable E. C. WINFREY, County Judge, Relator, v. Honorable Ward CHANDLER, District Judge, Respondent. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
Long, Strong, Jackson & Strong, Davis Bailey, County Atty., Carthage, for relator.
Fred Whitaker and Ruff Wall, Carthage, for respondent.
This is an original proceeding in which Honorable E. C. Winfrey, County Judge of Panola County, relator, seeks a writ of mandamus directing Honorable Ward Chandier, Judge of the 123rd District Court of Panola County, respondent, to vacate an order prohibiting relator from trying a criminal case pending in the County Court. We have concluded that the order in question is void for want of jurisdiction and that relator is entitled to a writ of mandamus as prayed.
An information was filed in the County Court of Panola County charging Sam Wallace McFadden, hereinafter referred to as the defendant, with the offense of driving while intoxicated on September 7, 1957. The case is styled The State of Texas v. Sam Wallace McFadden and was entered on the docket as Cause No. 7392. When relator called the case for trial on October 20, 1958, the defendant filed two verified pleas in bar. One asserted that the offense with which he was charged had theretofore been submitted to the grand jury, that no indictment charging him with either a felony or a misdemeanor had been presented, and that under the circumstances he could be prosecuted only upon indictment by a grand jury. It was alleged in the other that the defendant had previously been convicted in the County Court of Van Zandt County of the misdemeanor offense of driving while intoxicated as shown by a copy of the judgment of conviction attached to the plea, and that under the provisions of Art. 802b of the Vernon's Ann. Texas Penal Code the offense with which he was charged in the pending case is a felony and within the exclusive jurisdiction of the district court.
These pleas in bar were overruled, and the case proceeded to trial. The introduction of evidence and arguments of counsel were concluded and the jury began their deliberations on the afternoon of October 20th. In the meantime the defendant had applied to the District Court for a writ of prohibition. After a hearing on October 21st and before the jury had returned a verdict in the misdemeanor case, the order now under attack was entered by respondent. By its terms relator is perpetually prohibited from making any order or in anywise acting upon or trying said Cause No. 7392.
Relator thereupon presented to this Court a motion for leave to file a petition for writs of mandamus and injunction. We granted leave to file and issued an injunction restraining respondent from enforcing the order of October 21st in such manner as to prevent relator from receiving the verdict of the jury. A verdict of acquittal was returned shortly thereafter. The present proceeding is not moot, however, because a judgment discharging the defendant has not been entered.
A district court is not authorized to exercise general supervision and control over the county court in criminal proceedings, and its power to interfere with the orderly dispatch of such business by the latter tribunal is limited to that conferred by the Constitution and statutes of our State. Art. 5, Sec. 8, of the Constitution, Vernon's Ann.St., provides that the district courts 'shall have power to issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, injunction and certiorari, and all writs necessary to enforce their jurisdiction.' The applicable statute, in so far as it is relevant here, follows the language of the Constitution. Art. 1914, Vernon's Ann.Tex.Civ.Stat. Under these constitutional and statutory provisions, a district court has no power to stay the trial of a criminal case pending in another court except where necessary and appropriate to protect or enforce its own jurisdiction. See Seele v. State, 1 Tex.Civ.App. 495, 20 S.W. 946 (no writ). No question as to the jurisdiction of the district court seems to have been raised in Lyle v. Collier, Tex.Civ.App., 62 S.W.2d 1112 (no writ), and we do not regard that decision as contrary...
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