Gillette v. State
Gillette v. State
Opinion of the Court
On December 1, 1914, Robert Gillette entered a plea of guilty to an indictment theretofore returned under Section 13008, General Code, in the cpurt of common pleas of Lawrence county, wherein he was. charged with neglecting and refusing to support his illegitimate child, Leland Pickett. Upon entry of his plea he moved the court to fix the amount tO'.be paid for the support of the child and the amount of bond to be given, and for a suspension of sentence,. The pourt’s entry continued:
‘ ‘ The court grants said motion and fixes, the amount to be paid for the support of said phild at the .sum of $1.40 per week or $6 per month, said payments to start from the birth of said child and to be paid to Verbie Pickett, the mother of ©aid child, who is hereby appointed trustee to receive said payments; and the court fixes the amount of the bond to be given
Bond was given as required, and duly approved. Thereafter Gillette fully complied with the order quoted hy making the payments required of him; •
On March 25, 1921, the prosecuting attorney filed a motion in the common pleas court, reciting the order aforesaid, and concluding:
“It is further represented that by reason of the advanced age and increased requirements of the said child Leland Pickett or Gillette, and the vastly changed economic conditions, said ¡sum of six dollars per month is inadequate and insufficient for the support of said child.
“It is therefore moved that said cause be re-docketed and that upon proper notice to the defendant, Robert Gillette, he be required by the court to pay for the support of said illegitimate child such sum as may be reasonable and proper, taking into consideration the age and requirements of said child and the ability of the defendant to pay.”
Thereupon a summons was issued arid served upon Gillette, who appeared and filed an answer to the motion, in which he recited -the order of December 1.1914, and his performance thereof, and denied the jurisdiction of the court to re-docket said cause' or to'make any further order in the cáse. By a second defense he denied that the former order of the court was insufficient or unreasonable, and deriied his ability to pay more. Trial was had upon this motion arid .answer, with the result that the trial court found that the defendant ought to pay at the rate of twelve dollars per month for the support, maintenance arid educátion of Leland Pickett, and entered the following judgment: ;
This proceeding is brought to reverse the judgment and order last recited.
If the trial court had jurisdiction to open up the order of 1914 and enter an order requiring the defendant to pay an increased amount for the support of the child it must have been because in some way the jurisdiction of the court, duly exercised by it in 1914, was a continuing jurisdiction. There is, of course, no doubt that a court, having authority to decree a divorce of the parties, has continuing jurisdiction over the children who are by the action brought into court and made wards thereof. (Hoffman v. Hoffman, 15 Ohio St., 427, and Rogers v. Rogers, 51 Ohio St., 1.) But this is no such case. This is a criminal action wherein the defendant was charged with a felony, in that he had violated Section 13008, General Code. It is true that the proceeding, while in the name of the state, involves the rights of the child named in the indictment. No reason occurs to us why that fact alone changes the character of the jurisdiction of the trial court. A proceeding in bastardy is intended to and does accomplish the same result that the criminal trial under Section 13008 accomplishes. (McKelvy v. State, 87 Ohio St., 1.) It has never, however, so far as we know, been suggested that because the bastardy proceeding involve® the rights of children that an order
“Upon failure of such father or mother, or husband of such pregnant woman to comply with any order and undertaking provided for in this subdivision of this chapter, he or she may be arrested by the sheriff or other officer, on a warrant issued on the precipe of the prosecuting attorney, and brought before the court for sentence. Thereupon the court may pass sentence, or for good cause shown, may modify the order aisi to the time and amount of payments, or take a new undertaking and further suspend sentence as may be for the best interests of such child or pregnant woman and the public.”
The very fact that the general assembly made this express statutory provision for the subsequent modification of an order negatives the idea that there was inherent power in the court to make such modification without isiuch express statutory authorization. The statute provides that the court may modify its order upon the failure of the defendant to comply with the court’s order. This would be a wholly unnecessary provision if the court had power to modify its order whether the defendant had refused to comply with the demand or not. The expression of this one power excludes the theory that there was some other prior inherent power. We are cited, however, by the defendant in error to Hirstius, Sheriff, v. Gott
The decree of May 14, 1921, is reversed, and the motion for a modification dismissed.
Judgment reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.