Page v. State
Page v. State
Opinion of the Court
The greatest difficulty presented by this appeal is in determining, from the different provisions of the Code of Procedure, what is the proper practice in the County Court on appeal from a judgment of conviction from a justice’s or other inferior court to the County Court. The provisions of law relating to the granting of new trials in the justice’s courts are found in arts. 934 to 938, inclusive ; and by art. 939 it is provided that “ when a defendant appeals from a judgment in a criminal action he shall give notice of such appeal in open court, and the justice shall enter such notice upon his docket.” Art. 940 provides that “ when a defendant gives notice of an appeal, and files the appeal-bond required by law with the justice, all further proceedings in the case in the justice’s court shall cease.” Here the authority of the justice in the case ends with the taking and approval of the appeal-bond, except what is required of him in sending up the case to the County Court, and until he shall be informed of the judgment of the appellate court. The form of recognizance prescribed in art. 852, Code of Criminal Procedure, does not apply in case of appeal from the judgment of a justice of the peace to the County Court, but only to cases of misdemeanor from the judgment of the District or County Court. Code Cr. Proc., art. 851. Iii appeals from a justice’s court to the County Court, in cases where the justice has authority to try, the matter is regulated and governed by other and different provisions of the Code.
In art. 854, the required action of the justice, and the
Now, it is not questioned that, agreeably to the provisions of the Code, in all presentations for felonies the defendant must be personally present on the trial, or that he must likewise be present on the trial of all indictments or informations for misdemeanors when the punishment, or any part thereof, is imprisonment in jail. Code Cr. Proc., art. 596. Still, the Code also provides that “ in all other cases of misdemeanor the defendant may, by the consent of the attorney representing the State, appear by counsel, and the trial may .proceed without his personal presence.” Art. 597. These articles relate to original trials, and generally to trials in the District or County Courts. The provisions of art. 597, which authorize the trial to proceed, with the consent of the attorney representing the State, in the absence of the defendant, has, we are of opinion, reference to an original proceeding, and not to a trial in the County Court on appeal, notwithstanding such cases are required to be tried de nova in the County Court. Art. 856. Hence we conclude that, the defendant having given the appeal-bond required by law, in substantial compliance with the provisions of art. 854, above set out, his personal presence at the trial of his case on appeal was not necessarily required by law, and that he had a right under the law to appear by his counsel; and the court erred in refusing to permit the trial to so proceed, the defendant’s counsel being present and proposing to represent him.
We are further of opinion that the court erred in proceeding to forfeit the appeal-bond, under this state of case, in the first instance. If the defendant, having given the appeal-bond required by law, had failed to appear either in person or by attorney, the court could have forfeited the appeal-bond and ordered scire facias to his sureties under the rules prescribed in art. 859. But where, as in the present case, the appellant was present by his attorney, the court
Believing the court erred in the matter herein indicated, the judgment of the County Court will be reversed and the cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.