40 Kan. 533 | Kan. | 1889
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The imprisonment from which the petitioners seek to be released is alleged to be illegal, on the
In respect to the first ground, it appears that when the preliminary examination was held before the district judge and the petitioners committed for trial in the district court of Kearney county, that county was then unorganized and attached for judicial purposes to Hamilton county. Until a permanent organization was effected, no district court existed, and no trial could be had in that county. For the time being, and for judicial purposes, it was a part of Hamilton county, and to the district court of that county the petitioners should have been committed for trial. The early organization of Kearney county was doubtless contemplated when the examination was had, and, as the parties “were probably to be tried in the new county, when organized, the judge was erroneously led to commit them for trial there. This erroneous order, however, does not affect the legality of the present custody of
The objection that Kearney county is not within the twenty-seventh judicial district is not good. There is no statute, it is true, declaring in terms that Kearney county constitutes a portion of that district; but there is one making Hamilton county a part of the district. Kearney waa a township of
The third ground of illegality relates to the sufficiency of the information, and we have concluded that it is fatally defective. The information was filed under § 283 of the crimes act, which provides for the punishment of those who attempt the commission of public offenses. It was intended to charge the petitioners with attempting to commit the offense of obtaining money from the Provident Savings Life Assurance Com
As the state may desire to file another or amended information, stating facts which would constitute a punishable attempt, time will be given for that purpose. The petitioners will be remanded to custody for ten days, when they will be discharged unless such an information is filed, and they are taken and held upon a commitment issued thereunder.