Taggart v. Commonwealth
Taggart v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
deuvebed the opinion op the coubt.
The law provides (section 965, Ky.- Slat.) that the terms of the Circuit Court of Harrison county shall be commenced and held on the fourth Mondays in February and May, first Monday in September, and second Monday in' November, and may be held for eighteen juridical days. It is further provided (section 964) that “grand juries shall be summoned and criminal and penal causes shall be heard at but three terms, in each year, in any county, to be fixed by order of court, unless in an emergency the court may otherwise direct; and grand and petit juries may be summoned for any special term by direction of the judge.” The indictment under which appellant was tried and convicted was found at the September term, 1S97 — the third term of the Harrison Circuit Court held during the year 1897; and because three grand juries other than the one which found the indictment against him had been impaneled in the county within a year prior to the convening of the grand jury finding the indictment, and because there appears to have been made no order of court designating at what three terms of the court grand juries should be summoned and impaneled, the appellant contends that his motion to quash the indictment under which he was tried should have been sustained; and this is the first error of which he complains. It is evident that the statute refers to calendar years when providing that grand juries shall be summoned at but “three terms in each year,” and there
Complaint is made that the statements of the accused, made the night of the killing, and shortly after the shooting, were, incompetent; or, if competent, that they were only admissible as showing malice; and the purpose of their admission should have been explained to the jury. We regard this testimony as competent. Nor was it material that the'jury was not informed of the pariicular purpose of the evidence. When testimony on merely
When the jury first returned their verdict, it read as follows: “We, the jury, find Dan Taggart guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and fix his punishment by confinement for seven years in the punishment. T. W. Hardy, foreman.” The clerk read the word “punishment” at the end of the verdict, as if written “penitentiary,” and the jury was discharged, taking their seats in the court room, except one, who stepped into a water-closet attached to the court room. The clerk then called the court’s attention to the mistake, and the members of the jury were called up, and the word “punishment” was changed to what the foreman said he intended it to be, namely, the word “penitentiary.” The verdict was then re-read, and the jury polled. We perceive no error in this. The context clearly showed that by the word “punishment” was meant the word “penitentiary,” and the immediate correction could not in any conceivable way have prejudiced the rights of the appellant. The instruction clearly embraced the law of the case. The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Taggart v. Commonwealth of Kentucky
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published