People v. Agrait
People v. Agrait
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Cayetano Coll y Cuchi, esq., appeared as his counsel and made an oral argument in this court, presenting three points on which he claims a reversal:
1. The first point is that a new trial should have been granted to the defendant on the ground of newly-discovered evidence. This matter is disposed of satisfactorily by Hon. Jose R. F. Savage, the district judge, in an opinion rendered by him, overruling the motion for a new trial.
The nine affidavits which accompany the motion for a new trial tend to establish two propositions. One is that the voting places at Precinct Nos. 13-A and 13-B were both situated in the same building and that persons in one could see what was going on in the other. The second is that the prosecuting witness, Juan Pedro Sanchez, after the trial stated to certain persons that he had been induced to prosecute the defendant for political reasons. This statement was not made under oath, but in casual conversation between friends.
Under the circumstances of this case, and in default of a copy of the evidence introduced on the trial, and considered by the court, we cannot see that his discretion in refusing the motion for a new trial was not properly exercised. From all that is shown by the record the motion for a new trial was properly overruled.
2. The second point made by counsel is that defendant was not arraigned, nor was he required to plead to the information before going to trial. The cases cited by him of The People v. Gains, 52 Cal., 479; The People v. Corbett, 28 Cal., 328; and Crain v. U. S., 162 U. S., 625, all go to sustain this proposition, where it is shown that there was no arraignment; but this must affirmatively appear from the record in the case. It does not so appear in the record presented here. The certificate of the secretary of the district court states that in the case referred to, among other documents are found the following, giving the documents of which copies were sent to this court. From this certificate we must presume that all the documents used on
3. The third point made by defendant’s counsel is that the sentence is vague and indefinite, because it merely states that the defendant was convicted of an offense against the Election Law. It is not necessary that the judgment should set out all the particulars which go to constitute an offense. Under section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure it is provided that if no sufficient cause is alleged or appears to the court why the judgment should not be pronounced, it must thereupon he rendered. This section corresponds with section 1202 of the Penal Code of California. In California it has been held, in construing this section, that a judgment is not void because it does not state the offense of which the person was convicted if it shows that he was indicted for some offense, and tried and convicted, and that the sentence
The judgment in this case, when taken in connection with the information, which is also a part of the record, does not leave it doubtful of what crime the defendant was convicted, and it is allowable to refer from one to the other for the purpose of making plain what may be considered obscure. So we must hold this objection also to be ineffectual.
In fact it is merely necessary to refer to an act relating to the reversal of judgments in criminal cases by this court, passed by the Legislature of Porto Rico, and approved on the 30th of May, 1904, which provides that:
“Whenever it appears from the record in any criminal case upon appeal in the Supreme Court that any requirement of the law has been disregarded by the trial court, the judgment shall not be reversed unless the error appearing from the record was calculated to injure the rights of either of the parties and was duly excepted to in the trial court. ’ ’
The first and third error complained of certainly cannot be held to have injured the rights of the defendant, for the reasons heretofore stated, and the existence of the second error does not sufficiently appear from the record presented here.
Taking these matters into proper consideration, we must hold that in the absence of' any fundamental error apparent from the record, the judgment of the district court should be in all things affirmed.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.