65 Wis. 647 | Wis. | 1886
This is a writ of certiorari issued out of this court to review the proceedings had before the respondent, as a circuit judge, upon a writ of habeas corpus issued by said judge in favor of the relator. On the return of said writ it appeared that the relator was imprisoned in the state prison at Waupun upon the final judgment of the circuit-court of Calumet county, in a criminal action of the state against said Welch upon an information for murder. It appeared that the relator was arrested and pleaded not guilty to said information, and upon the trial the jury rendered a verdict by which they found the defendant “ guilt)' of murder as chai’ged in the information against him,” and upon this verdict the said court rendered judgment that the relator be imprisoned in the state prison at Waupun for his natural life. Upon the hearing the circuit judge remanded the prisoner, and, to review the proceedings and order of the circuit judge upon said writ of habeas corpus, the writ of certiora/ri was issued out of this court.
Upon the hearing upon the return to the writ of certiorari made by the said respondent it was urged by the learned counsel for the relator that the circuit court of Calumet county had no authority or jurisdiction to pronounce the judgment it did, in the case of the state against the relator, and consequently the judgment of the circuit court showed no lawful cause for the imprisonment of the relator, and he should have been discharged. The grounds of this contention were (1) that the information in the action pending in Calumet county did not charge the relator with the crime of murder in the first degree, and therefore the court had no jurisdiction to pass a sentence punishing the relator for that crime; and (2) if the information was sufficient to sustain a conviction for murder in the first degree, still the verdict of the jury did not find him guilty of that specific crime, and therefore there was no authority or jurisdiction in the court to pronounce the judgment it did in the case.
The validity of this section, so far as it prescribes what shall be a sufficient information in charging the crime of murder, was considered by this court in the case of Hogan v. State, 30 Wis. 428, 441; and this court held in that case that an indictment or information in the form prescribed by said section was sufficient to and did charge the defendant with murder in the first degree, as well as in the second and third degrees, and that said section was not a violation of sec. I, art. I, of the constitution. The correctness of the decision in the Kogan Case has not been questioned in this court since it was pronounced, and we are not convinced by the arguments of the learned counsel for the relator in this case that the decision of the court in Hogan v. State was wrong, and ought now to be reversed after having stood as the law for over fifteen years. .
The information in the case at bar being sufficient to charge the defendant with the crime of murder in the first degree, the circuit court had authority, under such information, to sentence the defendant to imprisonment for life in the state prison upon a verdict of the . jury convicting the defendant of that crime.
It is evident that the circuit court did not act without jurisdiction in pronouncing judgment upon the verdict rendered. It was the duty of the court, upon' the receipt of the verdict, either to pass judgment thereon, or to set it aside and order a new trial, as was done by this court in the Hogan Oase, and not to discharge the defendant from custody. Admit that the court erred in pronouncing judgment upon the verdict instead of setting the same aside, certainly the court in doing so had the power, and it was its duty, to determine what should be done in the case then before it; and if the court erred in its determination it was simply an error arising in the progress of the case, and not an act beyond the power and jurisdiction of the court, as it must be to be taken advantage of upon a writ of habeas corpus.
The defendant having been duly charged with the crime of murder in the first degree, and having been brought into the custody of the court, the court had full jurisdiction both of the subject matter of the action and of the person of the defendant, and, having rendered a judgment against the
It is only when the court pronounces a judgment in a criminal case Avhich is not authorized by law under any circumstances, in the particular case made by the pleadings, whether the trial has proceeded regularly or otherwise, that such judgment can be said to be void, so as to justify the discharge of the defendant held in custody by such judgment. This Avas the conclusion reached in the cases of People ex rel. Tweed v. Liscomb, 60 N. Y. 571, 590, 591, 604; In re Perry, 30 Wis. 268; In re Crandall, 34 Wis. 177; In re Semler, 41 Wis. 517; Hauser v. State, 33 Wis. 678; Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163; and Ex parte Gibson, 31 Cal. 628. See, also, Hurd on Hab. Corp. 327-332, and cases cited in the notes.
In Tweed’s Case, above cited, the court say: “ The court had jurisdiction of the person of the accused, and of criminal offenses committed within the county of New York, and necessarily had jurisdiction to pass upon the form and
The circuit judge was clearly right in making an order remanding the relator.
By the Court.— The proceedings and order of the circuit judge are affirmed. .