Commonwealth v. Comes
Commonwealth v. Comes
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Joseph Adkins and William Smith were indicted for murder in the Ferry Circuit Court but the prosecution was removed to the Whitley Circuit Court in pursuance of section 1112r
And the appellee Comes, having, under a recognizance duly taken at a previous term of the Whitley Circuit Court, •attended at the trial term ás a witness for the plaintiff in that prosecution, moved the court for an order allowing him •a claim payable out of the State Treasury of one dollar per day for such attendance,and $8.48 for mileage from his place of residence in Perry county; which motion was sustained. But the Commonwealth excepted to and has appealed from ■so much of that order as allowed the claim for mileage.
It seems plain to us that according to proper grammatical construction of the section quoted the fiscal court of a •county from which a prosecution may for the causes men•tioned be removed is required to allow and pay out of the ■county levy, not the costs of trial that takes place in the county to which the prosecution is removed, but only costs •of the removal which consists of fees and expenses of the sheriff or jailer and guards in delivering the defendant to jailer of the county w'here the trial is to take place, as spec ially provided for in section 1113, and fees, of the clerk for transmitting the original papers and transcript of orders and making out a copy of such papers to be retained by him as specially provided for in section 1115.
That it was intended to make a recusant county liable in
It is true section 367 provides a witness for the Commonwealth in a felony case is not entitled to mileage, in addition to per diem payable out of the State Treasury, unless Re resides in a county other than that where the trial takes place, and that consequently appellee could not nor would have had a claim therefor but for the change of venue. But that claim in meaning of the statute constitutes part of the costs of the trial, not of the removal already accomplished. Certainly the county of Perry could successfully resist payment of appellees’ .claim because the statute does not expressly or by fair construction impose such penalty, and consequently if not paid out of the State Treasury he would without fault be deprived of what the statute in terms directs shall be paid to him.
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.