People v. Peña
People v. Peña
Opinion of the Court
delivered, the opinion of the Court.
Dr. Sergio S. Peña took this appeal from a judgment whereby he was convicted of carrying a weapon.
When the appellant was arrested by the police on a verbal order of the District Court of Humacao and for a reason different from that which gave rise to this appeal, as he was leaving the house of a sick woman one night, a revolver was found in his surgical instrument case. On the following day, the district attorney filed in the office of the clerk of the District Court of Humacao an information charging the appellant with the offense of carrying a prohibited weapon, and when the information was read to Dr. Peña four days later, he moved the court to grant him five days to plead thereto, but he was granted only until the afternoon of the same day. When the defendant then appeared in court he alleged in Writing that the said court lacked jurisdiction in the case because no information had been filed before the court by the district attorney, for which reason no presentment existed, and he moved to dismiss the prosecution. According to the minutes of the court for that day, the motion to dismiss was denied and the accused then pleaded not guilty and the trial was set for four days later, although it was subsequently continued until another date. The regular district judge abstained from proceeding further (se inhibió) in the case and another judge was assigned to try the same. Before him the defendant reproduced his motion based on the ground already stated, which was denied and the defendant took an exception. Prom the record it appears that the district attorney filed the information in the office of the clerk of the court and that he did not present it to the court at a public session before it was read to the appellant. The refusal to dismiss on the said ground is assigned as error in this appeal.
In the case of People, v. Rodríguez, decided today, .ante, p. 557, a similar objection was not raised by the defendant when the information was read to him, but later. After a careful study of that question we said in that case
Applying the above doctrine to the case at bar, since the appellant at the first opportunity he had for making an objection to the information, raised the question that the same had not been filed before the court in public session, the judgment appealed from is reversed and the case is remanded to the lower court for further proceedings.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.