25 Neb. 344 | Neb. | 1889
This is a petition filed in this court wherein it is alleged that, at the March term, 1886, of the district court of Cherry county, the plaintiff was convicted of the crime of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the period of fifteen years, said judgment having been rendered in a criminal action
It is alleged that, at the time of said trial and conviction, and for some time thereafter, he was laboring under •a disability, to-wit, an aberration of mind, the result of ■sickness, by reason whereof he had no opportunity of making any defense, and no understanding of his own and conception of the offense with which he was charged; that immediately upon being restored to the possession of his mental ■ faculties he caused an application to be rnadé to the said district court for a new trial, which application was granted, and plaintiff ordered to be returned to the sheriff of Cherry county for further trial, but upon said •order being brought to the attention of the warden of the penitentiary, the warden refused to comply with it, and at the January term, 1887, of the supreme court, in an application for a writ of habeas corpus, it was decided that said order of the district court granting a new trial was without jurisdiction and void.
It is alleged that he is entirely innocent of the offense with which he was charged and convicted; that the evidence introduced upon the trial was wholly circumstantial, and insufficient to justify the verdict of the jury, and that the only circumstance proven which tended to cast •suspicion upon plaintiff as the person who caused the ■death of said Henry Stevens was, that plaintiff left his home on the night of January 31, 1886, and went in a southern direction, where he was arrested four days later, about 80 miles from his residence, and that he left his stock with no one to care for them; that he so left’ his
To this petition the attorney general has presented a general demurrer.
The principal, and perhaps the only question involved, is one of jurisdiction.
It is contended by plaintiff, and is doubtless true, under the present condition of our law, that he has no legal remedy; that no court of law in this state has any author
Section 13 of chapter 19 of the Compiled Statutes of 1887, is also cited as conferring the jurisdiction insisted upon. This section is as follows :
“ The supreme court shall have original jurisdiction in cases relating to the revenue, civil cases in which the state shall be a party, mandamus, quo warranto, and habeas corpus, and shall have appellate and final jurisdiction of all matters of appeal and proceedings in error, which may be taken from the judgments or decrees of the district courts, in all matters of law, fact, or equity, where the rules of law or the principles of equity appear from the files, exhibits, or records of said court to have been erroneously determined.”
It will, be observed that, by the sections quoted, the supreme court has original jurisdiction in civil cases in which the state shall.be a party. By this, plaintiff insists the equity jurisdiction of the, supreme court is extended
The section must, therefore, be construed in the light of that principle, and held to apply only to what are usually denominated civil actions; that is, actions distinguished in all respects from criminal prosecutions, and has no reference whatever to the enforcement of the criminal laws of the state.
Plaintiff's petition must, therefore, be dismissed.
Judgment accordingly.