State v. Orfanakis
State v. Orfanakis
070rehearing
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING.
The first four grounds of the motion deal with points raised by the brief of appellant, which, it is claimed, have been overlooked by this court in its decision, but a re-examination of the opinion and the record clearly shows that the contention is not well founded, as the several points in question were considered in the opinion, and we find no reason for departing from our conclusion arrived at.
“The rule is well established that a state cannot be deemed guilty of a violation of its constitutional obligation (nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law) simply because!, one of its courts, while acting within its jurisdiction, has made an erroneous decision.”
See, also, Arrowsmith v. Harmoning et al., 118 U. S. 194, 6 Sup. Ct. 1023, 30 L. Ed. 243.
For the reasons stated the motion is denied.
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OP THE COURT.
In the case of State v. Gonzales, 19 N. M. 467, 144 Pac. 1144, in an opinion by the Chief Justice under a state of facts where the defense excepted to a certain instruction for the reason that the same did not clearly, concisely, and accurately state the law in defining reasonable doubt, and that said instruction was ambiguous, misleading,' and contrary to law, this court said:
“TRe above exception, it will be noted, fails to point out specifically the* error in the instruction. It is true it is stated that the instruction does not clearly, concisely, and accurately state the law in defining reasonable doubt, but wherein it fails in this regard is not set forth.^ It is also stated that the instruction is ambiguous, misleading, and-contrary to law, but under the. rule above stated, counsel should have pointed out specifically wherein such instruction was misleading, ambiguous, and contrary to law.”
In the present case the exception was even more general than in the'Gonzales Case, and it is only alleged that the instruction is not according to the evidence, nor the law as the same should be given. The exceptions as to the three instructions are therefore insufficient so far as they fail to point out the grounds of legal objection.
A different question, however, is presented as to the sufficiency of the exception upon the ground that the instructions were not according to the evidence. Instruction numbered 22 was based solely upon the matter of the testimony introduced by the defendant as to his. character as a law-abiding citizen, and the duty of the jury in respect thereto. Instruction numbered 23 had to do solely with the fact that the defendant had concealed himself after the crime was committed, and the duty of tffe jury with respect to such evidence, if it found that he had so concealed himself. Instruction numbered 24 dealt solely with the duty of the jury in the matter of confessions. It is .quite clear from the record that there was evidence of good character of the defendant as a law-abiding citizen; there was also evidence of the fact that the defendant concealed himself; there were also statements of the defendant, testified to by several witnesses. that might be regarded as of an incriminating character, tending to amount to a confession of the crime. While it is true that evidence as to the confession has a tendency to both inculpate and exculpate the defendant, yet it was for the jury to say what, if any, part of these statements were to be believed. This being the-situation as to the evidence, it cannot' be said that the three instructions referred to were not according to the evidence.
“(28) Tke court instructs the jury that the fact that the defendant concealed himself, if you find he so concealed himself, may be shown by the state as a circumstance tending to indicate the guilt of the accused, and may be considered by you, along with other circumstances tending to connect- the defendant with the commission of the crime charged in the indictment.”
Evidence of concealment and explanation thereof being admissible in the case at bar, the legal effect of such evidence became a part of the law of the case. But in this jurisdiction it has been repeatedly held that the failure of the court to instruct on a given proposition of law is waived unless an instruction containing a correct exposition of such law is tendered to the court, or the. party excepts to an instruction given by the court, and in doing so specifically makes known the vice therein, so that the trial court is thereby afforded a proper opportunity to correctly instruct the jury. Instruction 23 simply was directed to the legal effect of concealment. Therefore, whether the court erred in failing to instruct the jury on tbe law of explanation of concealment depends upon whether the exception to instruction 23 specifically pointed out to the court the error in that instruction in failing to include therein this doctrine, or whether the appellant tendered to the court, in apt time, an instruction properly-containing the law of the subject. The given instruction is made the subject of attack bjr appellant on various grounds, principally because it emphasized the evidence of the state on concealment, but made no mention of the evidence of explanation of concealment, but the exception was too general to call attention of the trial court to any alleged vice in the given instruction. Appellant refers but incidentally to the fact that the trial court should have given the requested instruction, tendered by him, concerning the legal effect of evidence explaining concealment. The requested instruction reads as follows:
“(2) You are instructed that if you believe from the evi-' dence that the defendant attempted to escape, then the court instructs you that the inference that may be drawn from any act of this kind is strong or slight according to the facts surrounding the defendant at the time.”
The requested instruction constitutes a comment on the weight of the evidence, and as such is violative of section 2796, Code 1915, and the court, therefore, properly refused to give the requested instruction.
The second ground of the objection is that the evidence does not disclose that the defendant understood and could speak English, but it is sufficient to say in this connection that the evidence of the state was to the contrary, and therefore there was a conflict of evidence on this point, for which reason the second ground cannot be favorably considered.
“I told Crist when I was talking to him that if he would come and tell me the truth, it might be easier on him than it would be to try and hide it, after I started the conversation.”
The witness also further testified in the same connection as follows:
“I said it might make it easier for him if he would confess it, or something that way, or I told him if he would come through and tell it, it might be better for him, after he and I had had the conversation for some time, but not in the beginning.”
So far as the record discloses, whatever might have been said to the defendant or accused by way of inducement to malte a confession was stated after he had volunteered to explain his connection with the matter. It seems clear that before these statements were made by the witness to the accused, the accused had said, as testified to by the same witness:
“I asked him how many men killed iSem Tomas, and he said, ‘Two,’ and I asked him if it was not three, and he said, ‘Nb; only two did it.’ He said, ‘Louis and I did it,’ and shortly after that he said, ‘No; Louis did it.’ ”
The last statement made by the accused, while in response to a question addressed to him, which did not assume the guilt of the accused, was apparently responded to voluntarily, and during the trial of the ease he did not assert at any time that the answer, which was in reality an attempt at justification of his connection with the transaction, was elicited by reason of any promise or inducement made to him. We do not believe that the record discloses that the statement was made under such circumstances. In the case of State v. Ascarate, recently handed down and reported in 153' Pac. 1036, this court said:
“No hard and fast rule” could be laid down “which would serve as a test in every instance [as to the voluntary nature of the confession], but each case must be determined upon its own circumstances.”
Tested by this rule, we conclude that the statement of the accused which is here objected to was voluntarily made, and that the objection presented by the brief of appellant under the third ground referred to is therefore 'not well taken.
“Ordinarily the verdict of a jury will not be disturbed in the appellate court when it is supported by any substantial evidence.”
—and- we conclude, after an examination of the record, that the verdict in this case is supported by substantial evidence; therefore cannot consider that the contention of .appellant is meritorious.
It would seem to be the better practice to require the defendant to call attention to an objection of this kind more promptly than was done in the case at bar, but we prefer to dispose of the matter without basing it upon the technical grounds stated, which, however, find support in the case of Gillum v. Commonwealth, 121 S. W. 445, in which case the Supreme Court of Kentucky said:
“Allowing the jury to be discharged- without objection, and without motion to have them correct or extend their verdict, will be deemed a waiver of formal defects in it.' And it must then affirmatively appear that the substantial rights of the accused have been prejudiced by the informality.”
It has, however, been held that:
“When three parties are indicted and two of them have been arrested and tried, a verdict of guilty has reference only to the two on trial. It was not necessary for the jury, when returning the verdict, to refer to the two defendants on trial as the parties to be affected by the verdict.” State v. Chambeirs, 45 La. Ann. 36, 11 South. 944.
To the same effect is Hronek v. People, 134 Ill. 139, 24 N. E. 861, 8 L. R. A. 837, 23 Am. St. Rep. 652, and Hughes v. Comm. (Ky.) 14 S. W. 682. In the latter case it is true that the verdict found against the “within named defendant,” two persons having been jointly indicted, and appellant only, however, being on trial. See, also, State v. Williamson, 65 S. C. 242, 43 S. E. 671; Archbold’s Crim. Prac. & Proc. vol. 1, p. 318.
We, therefore, conclude that where three parties are jointly indicted and one of them has been arrested and tried, a verdict of guilty has reference only to the one on trial, and it is not necessary for the jury, in returning its verdict, to refer to the defendant on trial as the party to be affected by the verdict.
Bor the reasons stated, we find no error in the record, and the judgment of the trial court is therefore affirmed; and it is so ordered.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- SYLLABUS BY THE COURT. 1. Where there is sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion that different persons charged with a crime are ail acting with a common purpose and design, the actions and declarations of each from the commencement to the consummation of the offense are evidence against the others. P. Ill 2. An exception to an instruction is not specific which asserts that the instruction is contrary to law, without pointing out the grounds of legal objections. P. 112 3. A requested instruction which is erroneous is properly refused. P. 114 4. No error can be predicated on the refusal of the trial court to give an instruction where the instruction given by the court on its own motion fully and completely covered everything contained in the refused instruction. P. 116 5. Where there is evidence of motive, an instruction as to the effect of the absence of motive is improper, and should be refused. P. 117 6. Ordinarily the verdict of a jury will not be disturbed in the appellate court, where it is supported by any substantial evidence. P. 119 7. Where court and counsel assume that testimony would be connected up to show that a conspiracy existed, if the state failed to prove the conspiracy, it was incumbent on the defense to direct the attention of the trial court to that fact, and, having failed to do so, the point cannot be raised on appeal. P. 110 8.Exclusion of cross-examination as to whether a certain kind of hat which witness had testified was worn by the accused on the night of the homicide was a popular hat, or one worn by other persons in the town at the time, offered as ■ a test of the witness’ memory about the hat, was not error. P. Ill 9. An objection to an-instruction that there was no evidence in the case as to involuntary manslaughter, in the absence of exception or requested instruction on the subject, will not be considered on appeal, on the theory that the statement in the instruction disclosed that the attention of the court had been called to the question, or that the court had, of its own motion, considered the question. P. 115 10. Evidence in a prosecution for homicide held insufficient to require an instruction as to. the effect of the drunken condition of the accused at the time of the homicide. P. 116 11. Where accused was identified by two witnesses as having been at the place of homicide, and he was shown to have been in company with the other defendants immediately before the homicide, a motion to strike out testimony as to a confession of defendant, on the ground that the corpus delicti and the connection of the defendant with the offense had not befen proven, was properly denied. P. 117 12. Though a witness who testified as to a confession by accused stated that he told accused that it might be easier on him to tell the truth than it would be to try and hide it, where the accused had given the substance of his confession before this statement was made, evidence of the confession was properly admitted. P. 118 13. Where three defendants were indicted for murder, but only one was tried, the verdict of conviction relates to the one on trial, though the caption of the verdict names all the defendants, and the one tried is not named in the body of the verdict..- P. 120 On Motion for Rehearing. 14. The admission of certain evidence in a criminal trial, even if erroneous, does not constitute a deprivation of due process of law, in violation of Const, art. 2, §§ 12, 18, and Const. U. S. Amend. 14, § 1. P. 121