O'Bryan v. State
O'Bryan v. State
Opinion of the Court
The appellant objected to being forced to select a jury from .an array of jurors which had been selected by jury-commissioners who had been appointed at the Hay term of the court, and not at the January term of the court. The objection to the jury is presented in several different forms, which are shown by bills of exception and mentioned in the first four assignments of error.
It is provided by law that if from any cause the jury-commissioners should not be appointed at the time prescribed by law, or should fail to select jurors as required, or should the panels selected be set aside, or the jury-lists returned into court be lost or destroyed, the court shall forthwith proceed to supply a sufficient number of jurors for the term under the provisions of this title, and may, when it may be deemed necessary, appoint commissioners for that purpose. Rev. Stats. art. 3023. It is further provided that “the County Court shall, at the January and July terms of said court in each' year, appoint three persons to perform the duties of jury-commissioners in said court, who shall possess the same qualifications as jury-commissioners in the District Court, and the same proceedings shall be had in the County Court by the officers thereof and by the commissioners for procuring jurors as are required by this title for similar proceedings in the District Court, except as modified by the provisions of this
In fact such construction is rendered necessary from the fact that the County Court would be without remedy if from any cause the jury-commissioners should not be: appointed at the time prescribed, or should fail to select-jurors as required, or the panels selected should be set. aside, or the jury-list returned into court be lost or destroyed, unless the provisions of article 3022 apply as well to the County as to the District Court. Hence we conclude-it was competent for the county judge to make an appointment of three persons as jury-commissioners at the. May term thereof, and that it was the duty of the county judge to ascertain whether the emergency had arisen which required him to act; and it must be presumed, in the absence of any showing to the contrary, that some one of the causes existed which are enumerated in article 3022, and which rendered the action of the court at the time a proper exercise of his discretionary powers. We. conclude, therefore, that the court did not err in refusing to set aside the array of jurors selected by jury-commissioners at the May term of the County Court.
This primary question being settled adversely to the views contended for by the "defendant’s counsel, it carries with it the other questions raised to the jury. Ho challenge to the array shall be entertained when the jurors have-been selected by jury-commissioners under the provisions, of title 57, Rev. Stats. art. 3075. Jurors selected by jury-commissioners in the County Court apply to both civil and criminal cases. Rev. Stats. art. 3029. It should be-borne in mind that the subjects mentioned in these articles of the Revised Statutes have no relation to challenges. of an individual juror either for cause or peremptorily..
Finding no error in the judgment it is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.