21 Iowa 322 | Iowa | 1866
He was tried at the first term after indictment found, save the one when he failed to appear, and'his recognizance was forfeited. Thus far, therefore, he cannot complain. His motion in arrest, &c., was made and remained undisposed of until in Hay. At this term the State was under no necessary obligation to be ready, for the prisoner was then seeking to avoid a conviction, and it could not be known that the verdict would be set aside. Then, again, while defendant did not apply or ask for the continuance, he did not resist it; but it seems to have been granted without objection, to give time to prepare exceptions to the rulings. At the next term, he was again in default, and of course the State would not be in default in not preparing for trial until this was set aside. In June last it was set aside, his motion to be discharged was overruled, and one ground of that motion was that he had not had the speedy trial contemplated by the law. Under the facts, no claim could be more unfounded. Twice in default, tried once. Each term afterwards when present, seeking to avoid what he deemed an illegal verdict, or one which did not warrant a conviction, at no time resisting a continuance or demanding a trial, he is in no position to ask a discharge upon this ground. If thus entitled, forfeitures of recognizances would indeed be passports to the favor of courts, and defeat the whole object and purpose of the law.
In the first place, he himself moved in arrest of judgment, and, under such circumstances, it is said that' he is presumed to have waived any objection to being put á second time in jeopardy, and that he may ordinarily be tried anew. 1 Bishop. Or. Law, § 673, and the many cases there cited in the note.
'Without placing our decision upon this ground, however, we hold that it was competent for the court, against his objection, to set aside the verdict, and order a retrial. The case is not different, in the essential principles involved, from those settled and recognized in the State of Iowa v. Redman, 17 Iowa, 329, and Same v. Turner, 19 Id., 144. In the first,- the verdict was such, by reason of its failure to state the value of the property stolen, that no judgment could be entered, and it was held that the District Court properly ordered the.prisoner to be retried. In the second, the verdict was claimed to be defective, upon a ground not very dissimilar to that urged in this. And while the verdict was held good, the rules
Affirmed.