5 Wyo. 263 | Wyo. | 1895
The petitioner was convicted of the crime of manslaughter in the district court for Laramie.county, and after the verdict
The statute applicable to his case reads as follows:
“Whenever a person shall be convicted of a lelony, and the judgment shall be suspended as aforesaid, it shall be the duty ■of the court to order the person so convicted into the custody of the sheriff, to be imprisoned until the case in error be disposed of.” (1st Par. Sec. 3326, Rev. Stat.)
The petitioner claims that this statute, which was enacted prior to the adoption of the constitution of the State, under ■the territorial regime is repugnant to the Bill of Rights, which contains the following provision: “All persons shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great.” (Art. 1, Sec. 14, Const., first clause.) He insists that this language is broad enough to include all persons convicted of a felony less than capital, after as well as before conviction of the offense, and that notwithstanding the statute, he is entitled to bail during the pendency of the cause on error.
Hnder the common law, bail in felony cases was not granted as a matter of right, but the power to admit to bail was lodged in the court of King’s Bench and the judges thereof and was a matter of discretion, and not a matter de jure.
There are English eases where bail has been granted after conviction of a felony, but they present extraordinary circumstances, where there was some doubt as to the law of the
Some of the constitutions of the States relating to bail contain an express provision that the right to bail terminates upon conviction; in others the language is similar to ours. There are but few cases directly in point, and it would seem that the power to admit to bail after conviction where there is no statutory or constitutional provision granting such a right, has been rarely invoked. The earliest case in this country is that of State w. Ward, 2 Hawks (N. C.), 443. The defendant was indicted for passing counterfeit money, and after his conviction and sentence there arose a point on his prayer to be bailed pending appeal. The judge delivering the opinion said upon this point:
*267 “I think that the clause in the constitution, which declares that all prisoners shall he bailable by sufficient securities, unless for capital offenses, where the proof is evident'or the presumption great, relate to capital eases only, that is, to prisoners in capital cases, the meaning is evidently prisoners before conviction; for, after conviction, there is no such thing as proof and presumption; all is certainty, and that the word prisoners must he understood alike in each member of the sentence, that is, prisoners before conviction; and persons remain convicted of the offense, notwithstanding the appeal; for the appeal is for matter of law only; the facts remain unaffected by the appeal, unlike the cases of appeal for matters of fact as well as for matters of law, and where a new trial de novo is given on appeals from the county to the superior courts, or from a single justice to the county court, where the appeal annihilates the verdict and judgment both.”
In petty misdemeánors after conviction, the appeal was held to be a matter of right, but that indiscriminate' right of going at large after an appeal upon giving bail, would render the criminal law a dead letter. The decision of this court would seem to be in harmony with our statutes before the constitution was operative, to allow bail as a matter of right after conviction of a misdemeanor, and denying bail after conviction of a felony, and the construction of the clause in the constitution of that State similar to ours, was that the right to bail did not extend to persons convicted of a felony. To the same effect as this decision in North Carolina is the decision of the' Supreme Court of California in the case of ex parte Yoll, 41 Cal., 29, under petition for writ of habeas corpus for the purpose of admitting one to bail convicted of manslaughter while his appeal was undetermined. The provision of the constitution of that State relating to bail is akin to ours in that respect, and the statute there provided that a person charged with such an offense as manslaughter might be admitted to bail before conviction as a matter of right, hut, after conviction, as a matter of discretion only. It was held that such a statute was not unconstitutional as being more restrictive than the constitution, as the provision of the latter was designed only
“Although bound to grant a writ of habeas corpus to bail, even-after conviction, as decided by this court in Longworth’s case, yet we exercise the power, as intimated in that case, with reluctance, because, in doing so, we are obliged to hold a law of the General Assembly to be unconstitutional.; because this court was divided in opinion; and because the district court holds a contrary opinion; and because we are all sensible of the evils to which the exercise of the power may lead. It is our duty, therefore, to avoid the exercise of the power, if it can be done consistently with the rights of the applicants. We thought it could be done in this case,- by affording him an immediate trial, which, we directed.”
The opinion further declares that the right to bail, which, in common with other great constitutional rights, was secured after a long struggle against tyranny and oppression, was the right to bail before conviction, the grievance complained of being the treatment of prisoners before trial and conviction. This ease was affirmed in Ex parte Schwartz, 2 Tex. App., 80. It is directly in point here, particularly as we' have no direct constitutional provision allowing appeals as a matter of right in criminal cases, except that this court is clothed with appellate jurisdiction in criminal as-well as in civil causes, and is invested with a general superintendence and control over all inferior courts, under such rules and regulations as are prescribed by law (Const., Art. 5, Sec. 2), but the statute relating to appeals, and which has stood practically untouched for a quarter of a century, provides for the allowance of writs of error in criminal causes, “for good cause shown,” upon the application of the defendant, verified by him and by his attorney, if he have one, dispensing with the necessity of inspecting the record, until very recently required. Ch. '27, Laws 1895. ,
- It has been the practice lately, in this court to ¿llow writs of error pro forma, but this is a matter of grace.1 Either the
It was never the practice to let to bail in this jurisdiction after conviction, and this was well known to the framers of the constitution, a large number of whom were learned in the law and from long residence were familiar with the laws and practice of the territory. They evidently had no desire to work any radical changes in existing laws except where the changes were clearly expressed, and there is no indication anywhere in the constitution of an intention to enlarge the power of admission to bail, particularly to persons convicted of crime.
The cbnstruction adopted in Texas, California, Ohio and North Carolina, and feebly opposed in Louisiana, seems to be the one to govern us here.
The guaranty of our constitution is the familiar one of a speedy trial before an impartial jury, and the right to admission to bail pending the trial, save only in capital cases where the proof is evident or the presumption great, and these words of limitation to the grant of right to the citizen explains the meaning of the entire guaranty. In capital offenses after conviction, the presumption is always great and the proof evident of the guilt of the defendant, and therefore bail is not granted to one convicted of a capital crime. This seems a guide to lead 'to the determinátion of the time when the constitutional guar- ' anty of the right to give bail ceases. • All persons thus granted the right must necessarily be of the same general class, namely, ■ those accused of crime and before conviction. The constitu
Cases may occur where imprisonment during the pendency of proceedings in error or appeals in criminal cases may be disastrous to the health of the convicted person, but the law does not provide for such contingencies. In this case no such reason for admission to bail arises, as no showing is made of the sickness of the petitioner, and it is unnecessary to consider the application to let to bail from that standpoint; however, the statute makes no such exception, but is positive in its requirement that a defendant convicted and sentenced to a
The statute expressly forbids the admission to bail of a person convicted of a felony, after sentence, by directing that he shall be imprisoned until his cause in error is disposed of, and the constitution extends the right to bail to persons before judgment has been passed in crimes of this magnitude, under the construction that we are compelled to give to the provisions of that instrument conferring the right of admission to bail. While we recognize the right of the legislature to enlarge this constitutional grant, so as to include persons sentenced for a felony, this court has no power and no inclination to invade the domain of the legislature, and confer such a right in the face of the unambiguous direction of a valid statute. It is doubtful if the position of the defendant in this proceeding secures him any footing in this court, as his proceedings in error have not been initiated, and nowhere does it seem that bail is allowed.under, either.constitutional or statutory authority where an appeal is not pending; but we have decided the application upon the main point involved, as it was fully argued' and the matter was submitted to us upon that proposition.