Gallagher v. State
Gallagher v. State
Opinion of the Court
The indictment in this case was brought under a statute which reads, “ If any person knowing himself not to be a qualified voter shall at any election
Defendant filed a motion to quash upon the following-grounds:
“ 1st. Said indictment fails to allege or charge what the alleged election was held for.
“ 2d. Said indictment fails to allege an offense in plain intelligible language, so as to enable defendant to determine for what he is being held and tried.
“ 3d. The indictment fails to show and allege defendant’s disqualification in this, that it fails to allege any final judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, and fails to allege that any final trial or judgment was had or entered against defendant. ”
An inspection of the indictment shows the futility of the first two grounds. The authority of the election was not necessary to be averred (State v. Hayworth, 3 Sneed,
With regard to the 3d objection, that the indictment • fails to set out with certainty and sufficiency the disability under which defendant was laboring, it is to be noted that in several of the States, under statutes similar to ours above quoted, it has been held unnecessary to aver the particular disability. The Comm. v. Shaw, 7 Met. 52; State v. Marshall, 45 N. H. 281; U. S. v. Quinn, 12 Int. Rev. Dec. 151.
In Douglass’ case, 7 Iowa, 41, it was said, “the essence of the offense in this case is that the defendant voted knowing he was disqualified. Under it any disability might be shown; or the State might prove from the admissions of the defendant, or otherwise, that he knew he was disqualified and was in fact disqualified, without proving in what the disqualification consisted.” In 27ew
We are of opinion the better and safer practice is to set out the particular disability. The disability alleged was conviction for the crime of burglary. The word “convicted ” used by the pleader has a definite signification in law. It means that a judgment of final condemnation has been pronounced against the accused. Penal Code, art. 27; 1 Bouv. L. Dic. word “ Conviction.”
To say that a party had been ‘ ‘ convicted ” and then add that he stood his final trial and that “judgment final” was rendered against him would be tautology. Moreover, the word “convicted” is the proper statutory word to convey the idea that a party is disqualified from voting because he has been tried and condemned for a felony. In the chapter on suffrage it is declared that “the following classes of persons shall not be allowed to vote, to wit, * * * 3. All persons convicted of any felony.” Rev. Stats. art. 1687. And precisely the- same language is used in the Constitution on the same subject. Const. art. VI, subdivision fourth, sec. 1.
We are of opinion that the third ground of the motion to quash was likewise untenable, and that the court did not err in overruling the motion to quash the indictment nor the motion in arrest of judgment, -this last motion being substantially based upon the same grounds as the motion to quash. We fail to see any such error in the proceedings of the trial exhibited in the record as requires a reversal of the judgment, and the judgment is therefore affirmed.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.