20 Iowa 372 | Iowa | 1866
Literally construed, .this section would seem to limit the power of the court to make such an order only when the witness is confined in a county prison; for in one.class of cases it expressly says it may be exercised for the oral examination of a witness in the county where he is imprisoned, but in criminal cases in any county in the' State; that is, he may be produced by the order of the court from his prison in any county in the State. Whether, even by a liberal construction, this would include the penitentiary, there is, to say the least, room for doubt: and as there is no necessity in this case to determine that point, we prefer for the present, to leave it open, remarking, that whether the power exist inherently in the court or arises out of the section of the Revision referred to, nevertheless we unite in holding that the defendant possesses no absolute right under the Constitution or the statute in question to demand the personal attendance of a convict in the penitentiary or county prison under an order of the court, but that tbe exercise of this power is discretionary, with which we will not interfere except for manifest abuse. Failing to discover tbe traces of any such abuse in this case, tbe action of tbe court is accordingly
Affirmed.