Wright v. State

Decision Date02 May 1895
Citation63 N.W. 147,45 Neb. 44
PartiesWRIGHT v. STATE.
CourtNebraska Supreme Court

OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE

Syllabus by the Court.

1. All presumptions exist in favor of the regularity of the judgments of courts of general jurisdiction, and he who asserts the contrary is required to establish the alleged error by an exhibition of the record.

2. An objection, on the ground that a particular charge of an information was not included in the complaint upon which an accused was held to answer by the examining magistrate, will not be noticed by the court on petition in error to review a judgment of conviction, where such preliminary complaint is not set out or made a part of the record.

3. Evidence examined, and held to sustain a conviction under section 210, Crim. Code, for knowingly owning, using, and occupying of a house in this state, for the purpose of prostitution.

4. Where affidavits are used as evidence on the trial of any issue of fact, they must, to be available for the purpose of a review by petition in error in this court be identified and preserved in the form of a bill of exceptions.

5. To the district court, and not to this, has been intrusted the power to impose sentences for the commission of offenses against the laws of the state, and the judgments of that court will not be interfered with, on the ground that they are excessive, in the absence of a clear abuse of discretion.

Error to district court, Platte county; Sullivan, Judge.

Harriet Wright was convicted upon an information charging her with keeping a house for pusposes of prostitution, and brings error. Affirmed.C. A. Woosly and W. M. Cornelius, for plaintiff in error.

A. S. Churchill, Atty. Gen., for defendant in error.

POST, J.

It is by this proceeding sought to reverse a judgment of the district court for Platte county whereby the plaintiff in error, Harriet Wright, was adjudged guilty of a violation of section 210 of the Criminal Code. The information upon which the accused was convicted charges the knowingly owning, using, and occupying by her of a certain house or building in said county for the purpose of prostitution. The provisions of the section above mentioned, so far as material to the questions presented by the record, are as follows: “Every house or building situated in this state and used and occupied as a house of ill fame or for the purpose of prostitution shall be held and deemed a public nuisance, and any person owning or having control of as guardian, lessee or otherwise, such house or building, and knowingly leasing or subletting the same in whole or in part for the purpose of keeping therein a house of ill fame, or knowingly permits the same to be used or occupied for the purpose of prostitution shall be fined in any sum not exceeding $100 or imprisoned not less than thirty days nor more than six months or both at the discretion of the court.”

The first assignment of the petition in error is that the trial court erred in refusing to quash the information, on the ground that the accused had not been allowed a preliminary hearing upon the particular offense charged in the information. It is conceded by counsel that a complaint of some kind was lodged with a magistrate, and that an examination of the accused was had on the charge therein stated; and, said information not being included in the record before us, it cannot be determined that the district court erred in the ruling assigned. The rule is too firmly established, to require the citation of authorities, that all presumptions exist in favor of the judgments of courts of general jurisdiction, and that he who asserts the contrary is required to establish the alleged error by an exhibition of the record.

The principal contention of the accused relates to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment. The...

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