State v. Hirronemus
State v. Hirronemus
Opinion of the Court
Martin Dooley was duly indicted by the grand jury of Wapello county for nuisance. On tbe 30th day of December, 1876, Dooley and the defendant, John Hirroner mus, executed to the State of Iowa a bail bond in the sum of two hundred dollars, conditioned as follows: “Now, if said Martin Dooley shall personally appear at the next term of the Wapello District Court, on the first day thereof, to answer to said indictment, and shall not depart the court without leave, and obey all orders of said court, made in said case, this obligation to be void, otherwise in full force and effect.” The accused appeared and pleaded guilty to the indictment. On said plea-the court rendered against him a judgment of fifty dollars fine and fifteen dollars and seventy-five cents costs, together with an order of imprisonment as follows: “It is further ordered by the court that the defendant Dooley be confined in the jail of Wapello county at hard labor, either in or outside of sueli jail, until said fine is paid, at one dollar and fifty cents per day, unless said defendant is sooner discharged, by virtue of section 4611, Code 1873, and that a bench warrant issue to enable the sheriff to take the defendant into his custody, to carry into effect this judgment or order.”
On the 11th day of February, 1876, a forfeiture of the bond was entered as follows: “Comes now the plaintiff by T. M. Fee, district attorney, and the defendant, being three times called to surrender himself in satisfaction of the judgment heretofore rendered in this case, came not, but made default, whereupon it is ordered by the court that his said default be entered against said Dooley. It is, therefore, ordered by the court that the bond for the appearance of the defendant, with the surety thereto, be and the same is hereby forfeited.”
Dooley testifies as follows: “Defendant took steps to surrender me up. He got the sheriff to come where I was in bed,
The defendant also proved by the records of the court that Dooley paid on said judgment of fine against him thirty dollars cash, and that a warrant was issued and placed in the sheriff’s hands for the arrest of Dooley in execution of the judgment of fine and imprisonment against him for a failure to surrender himself, in execution of which the defendant js sued. The defendant also offered to surrender Martin Dooley to the court in execution of the judgment, if anything be due thereon, but the court declined to take him, and refused to order the officers to take him, to which action of the court defendant excepted.
The evidence does show that Dooley’s surrender and imprisonment were after this suit was instituted. The surrender not having been made until after suit was instituted it was a matter of discretion with the court whether the wh'ole or any part of the sum so specified in the undertaking should be remitted. Code, § 4600. It requires a very strong instance of abuse to justify us in interfering with such discretion. The State v. Scott, 20 Iowa, 63. No such abuse of discretion appears in this ease.
The judgment is . ■ Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.