Perrow v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court October 15, 1889

Perrow v. State, 67 Miss. 365 (Miss. 1889)

Cooper

Opinion of the Court

Cooper, J.

delivered the opinion of the court.

The position of counsel for appellant that the conviction must *368be set aside because the defendant was indicted for aiding, inciting and advising the witness not to appear in answer to a subpoena, and the evidence shows that he aided, incited and advised the witness not to permit an attachment to be served upon him as a defaulting witness, is without mei*it. The gist of the offense is in obstructing the course of public justice, by counselling the witness not to appear, and in assisting him to elude the officer of the law. The averment in the indictment that the witness had been subpoenaed was mere matter of inducement. The subpoena had performed its function when it was served upon the witness; the duty of the witness was thereby fixed to attend upon the court in conformity with its order, and if thereafter the appellant did any act to prevent his attendance, he was guilty of obstructing the course of justice and punishable therefor.

Bishop on Crim. Law § 468; State v. Keyes, 8 Vt. 57; 3 Chitty on Crim. Law 235.

Judgment affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name: S. R. Perrow v. State
Status: Published
Syllabus: Criminal Law. Obstructing the course of justice. Indictment. Case in judgment. Under § 2976, code 1880, which, makes punishable as for a misdemeanor any attempt to impede the administration of justice, where the proof is that the accused aided a person to elude the sheriff who was seeking to serve an attachment against him as a defaulting witness, a conviction will not be set aside merely because the indictment charged, by way of inducement, that the witness had been subpoenaed and made no mention of the attachment; provided it sufficiently charged the essential fact that the accused counseled the witness not to appear, and aided him to .avoid the officer.