256 P. 450 | Cal. Ct. App. | 1927
On the twentieth day of January, 1926, appellant Rice was charged by an information filed by the district attorney of San Diego County with the commission of lewd and lascivious acts upon the body of a child. Before the trial of the appellant a doubt arose in the mind of the court as to his sanity, and the question was submitted to a jury, which found the appellant insane. The defendant was then committed to the state hospital for the insane at Napa, California. Subsequently and on the twenty-seventh day of August, 1926, an order was made by the superior court directing the return of the defendant and appellant from the Napa state hospital for the insane. Pursuant to said order appellant was returned and tried in said court with the offense charged in the information aforesaid. This appeal is prosecuted by the appellant from a judgment of conviction and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.
[1] The appellant's main contention in this trial is that the procedure contemplated by sections 1367-1370 of the *57
Penal Code of this state was not complied with in returning the defendant from the state hospital at Napa to the superior court in San Diego for trial. Section
There is nothing in the record in this case to show upon what information the court acted in making the order directing the sheriff to return the appellant from the state hospital at Napa. Presumably the sheriff or the district attorney received information as to defendant's sanity from the superintendent of the state hospital and submitted it to the court. It is our opinion that under the law the order of the court was unnecessary. No certificate or other writing is to be found in the record indicating that the superintendent of the state hospital had conveyed to either the sheriff or the district attorney his judgment and conclusion as to the mental status of the defendant. It is suggested in the record that letters were received from the superintendent conveying this information, although such letter or letters were not introduced at the time of the trial. The recitals in the order made by the judge indicate that he had been informed that the superintendent had declared the appellant sane and presumably this information came through the regular channels. In any event, in response to the order made by the judge the defendant was brought before the court for trial and the respective parties announced themselves ready to proceed with the trial. No objection or suggestion that the defendant at that time was insane was made to the court. The defendant was permitted by the court to offer a further defense to the effect that at the time of the alleged commission of the act complained of in the information the defendant was insane, and it was announced by counsel for defendant at the opening of the trial that such would be the defense relied upon by the defendant. At no time during the course of the trial did *58 the defendant object to proceeding therewith upon the ground that at the time of the trial the defendant was insane, but all objections were directed to the fact that the proceedings leading up to and resulting in removing the defendant from the state hospital to the county of San Diego for trial were irregular and not warranted by law. During the course of the trial and as a part of the record in the case the order made by the court directing that the defendant be brought before the court for trial was read in the presence of the jury and is as follows:
"Done in open court, this 27th day of August, 1926.
"C.N. ANDREWS, "Judge of said Superior Court." *60
The defendant objected to the reading of this order in the presence of the jury, contending that it was hearsay and not admissible in evidence. At no time was there any suggestion that the order was read as evidence in the case, but simply as a record in the proceedings. There was no issue properly before the trial court as to the then mental condition of the defendant except in so far possibly as it might be a circumstance to be considered by the jury in determining the real issue in the case as to the mental responsibility of the defendant at the time of the commission of the offense charged in the information. In our opinion this order was entirely unnecessary and was improperly read in the presence of the jury, but the error was not of such consequence in our judgment as to warrant a retrial of the case, and this is particularly true in view of the fact that at no time during the trial did the defendant or anyone else ask that the then mental status of the defendant be submitted to a jury.
[2] The contention of the defendant that the court was without jurisdiction to retry the case until the question of the present mental status of the defendant was determined by some sort of a judicial inquiry is without merit and was directly determined against the defendant in the case of People v.Farrell,
It is our conclusion that when the defendant was tried on the issue as to his then sanity that trial supplanted the trial on the felony charge, and the trial upon that charge was merely suspended; that at no time did the court lose jurisdiction to proceed with the trial upon the information when the defendant was brought before the court for trial through official channels.
We are satisfied from the entire record that the defendant was properly brought before the court for trial on the information, after having been committed to the state hospital, and that at all times the court had jurisdiction to proceed with the trial, that no error affecting the substantial rights of the defendant was committed during the trial of the case.
[3] The question of the mental status of the defendant at the time of the trial is one submitted largely to the discretion of the trial court. In the case of People v. Keys,
Judgment affirmed.
Works, P.J., and Craig, J., concurred.