61 P. 805 | Kan. | 1900
The opinion of the court was delivered by
John Kornstett was charged with and convicted of the murder of his cousin, Nora Kornstett, and the severest penalty of the law was adjudged against Mm. In substance, the information charged the appellant with having attempted to ravish his cousin, and that then, with deliberation and premeditation, he choked and beat her and struck her head against a tree with great violence, and that afterward he threw her body into a well about twenty feet deep, all with intent to kill and murder her, and that the wounds and injuries so purposely and feloniously inflicted caused her death. When taken before a magistrate for preliminary examination, he entered a plea of guilty, and subsequently, when the information was filed and he was arraigned before the court, he again entered a plea of guilty of the charge alleged. Subsequently he was brought before the 'court and was fully informed of the penalty for the crime charged against Mm, and was asked whether he desired to change his plea of guilty which had previously been entered, and in response to the inquiry he insisted that the plea of guilty stand. About a week after that time, an application was made to withdraw the plea of guilty, which was granted by the court; and later, when arraigned again, he stood mute and re-' fused to plead, and upon the order of the court a plea of not guilty was entered for him.
1. Preliminary examination - proceedings construed as a waiver.On this appeal the first contention is that he had no preliminary examination, and that his plea in abate
“This section seems capable of but one construction, and that is to require imprisonment in a county jail as a substitute for imprisonment in the penitentiary where such offenses as were punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary have been committed by a youth under sixteen. A felony punishable by death is not within the meaning or letter of the statute.” (The State v. Barton, 71 Mo. 288; The State v. Adams, 76 id. 355; The State v. Schmidt, 136 id. 644, 38 S. W. 719.)
The subsequent statutory provision, enacted in 1872, which provides that a person sentenced to the penalty of death shall not be executed until the time is fixed for his execution by the governor, and requiring him to be confined in the penitentiary until the death-warrant is issued, does not operate to repeal the statute prescribing punishment for murder in the first degree, Nor does it modify the sentence of the law. {The State v. Crawford, 11 Kan. 32.) The latter statute, chapter 166, Laws of 1872, is in the nature of a statutory direction to the warden as to the execution of the sentence, and not a modification of the penalty which the
The sufficiency of the evidence is challenged, but on that question there is no trouble. In our view, it abundantly sustains the verdict, and an analysis of the same is not necessary. Some other objections are urged which do not seem to require special attention, and we find nothing in the record which would justify the setting aside of the verdict or the reversal of the judgment. The judgment is affirmed.