State v. Cabodi
State v. Cabodi
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OP THE COURT.
Appellant, John Cabodi, was convicted in the District Court of McKinley County, of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to death. From the judgment he appeals to this Court and presents five propositions upon which he relies for a reversal of the cause. The errors relied upon will be considered in the order presented.
The Session Laws of 1907, as compiled and printed by the Secretary of the Territory, defines murder in the first degree as follows :■—
“All murder which shall be perpetrated by means of poison or lying in wait, torture, or by any kind of wilful, deliberate and premeditated killing, or which - is committed in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate any felony, or perpetrated from a deliberate and premeditated design unlawfully and maliciously to AFFECT the death of any human being, or perpetrated by any act greatly dangerous to the lives of others, and indicating a depraved mind regardless of human life, shall be deemed murder in the first degree.”
In preparing the indictment in this case, the pleader used the word “EFFECT” instead of the word “AFFECT” found in the printed volume of the Session Laws. Because of this, appellant moved in arrest of judgment, which motion was overruled by the Court. This ruling is. presented as the first ground of error.
“Assuming the meaning to be plain, false grammar or wrong spelling * * * * will severally not render the indictment insufficient.”
In the case of Smith v. Territory, (Okla.) 77 Pac. 187, the identical question arose. There the statute used the word “Effect” and the indictment “Affect” in charging murder in the first degree. The Court say:
“This was clearly a mistake of the pleader, a clerical error, and where a defect in an indictment is merely technical and the indictment being sufficient in all other respects, we are unable to see how the substantial rights of the defendant are affected by such mistake.”
The motion in arest of judgment was, therefore, properly overruled.
Had this question been called to the attention of the trial court, the signature of the foreman to the verdict could and would probably have been corrected. Appellant does not undertake to show that some unauthorized person was present and participated in the deliberations of the jury. Had such a showing been made, of course the verdict would be set aside by the trial court, or by this Court on appeal. The only objection urged is that one of the jurors did not use the same Christian name, as appeared upon the jury roll, when he signed the verdict, as foreman. In tbe case of State v. Duffield, 49 W. Va. 274, a similar question arose. The record there showed that “Henry Hunt” was one of the jurors empanelled and sworn to try the cause. The verdict was signed “W. H. Hunt,” and the Court held that the variance did not affect the verdict. The Court say:
“There was but one Hunt on the jury and it is not at all probable that, after the jury was sworn, that Henry Hunt got out of the jury box and W. II. Hunt, another and different person, took his place in the presence of the court and its officers.”
It is next urged that the trial court erred in not sustaining appellants’ motion for a new trial, wherein he alleged that the interpretation was not literal or correct, from Italian into English, and vice versa.
It is next assigned as error that appellant was deprived of his constitutional right “to' have the * * * * testimony interpreted to him in a language that he understands.” This assignment is based upon the fact that two witnesses, Stafor and Dugan, testified in the English language, and the evidence so given was not interpreted in Italian. Section 14, art-. II of the Constitution provides: -
“Do person shall be held to answer for a capital, felonious or infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury except in cases arising in the militia when in actual service in time of war or public danger. In all criminal prosecutions the accused shall have the right to appear and defend himself in person, and by counsel; to demand the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have the charge and testimony interpreted to him in a language that he understands; to have compulsory process to compel the attendance of necessary witnesses in his behalf, and a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county or district in which the offense is alleged to have been committed.”
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE OF NEW MEXICO v. John CABODI
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS (BY THE COURT) 1. Assuming tbe meaning to be plain, false grammar or wrong spelling will not render an indictment insufficient. P. 516- 2. A question, not jurisdictional, cannot be raised the-first time on appeal. P. 517 3. Where tbe name, Dewey Dimon, appears upon tbe roll' of jurors empanelled to try a cause, and tbe verdict is signed “DeWitt Dimon, Foreman,” and no objection to tbe variance is made in tbe trial court, tbe Supreme Court, on appeal, where the question is first raised, is warranted in assuming that no substitution in tbe personnel of tbe jury was made and that Dewey Dimon named on tbe jury roll signed the-verdict as DeWitt Dimon. P. 517 4. Where a complaining party is aware at the time, that tbe interpretation of tbe evidence, by an interpreter, is not correct, it is incumbent upon him to call tbe court’s attention to such erroneous translation, and ask to have it corrected; and, where be has not such knowledge at the time,, but afterwards becomes aware of tbe fact, be must set out all tbe facts in bis motion for a new trial, pointing out therein specifically tbe evidence erroneously translated, and support such contention by affidavit or proof, so that tbe trial court can pass intelligently upon tbe question. P. 518. .5. Under the provisions of section 14, art. II of the State Constitution, the defendant is entitled to have the testimony interpreted to him in a language which he understands. While such right cannot be denied a defendant, it is incumbent upon him to, in some appropriate manner, call the attention of the trial court to the fact that he does not understand the languge in which the testimony is given. P. 519 6. The word “charge” used in section 14, article II of the State Constitution, in the clause “to have the charge and testimony interpreted to him in a language that he understands,” refers to the indictment or information, and not the instructions given to the jury by the court. P. 520