19 Fla. 549 | Fla. | 1882
delivered the opinion of the court:
Thomas Woodson was indicted, tried and convicted of a felony at the Spring Term of the Circuit Court held in and for Eranklin county in May, A. D. 1882. Eor the offence he was sentenced to six months imprisonment in the penitentiary. Afterwards he applied for and obtained a writ of error to this court, assigning certain errors as appearing in the indictment as well as upon the trial of the cause. While the cause was thus pending in this court he broke jail and absconded. The sheriff of Eranklin county certifies to this court that he broke jail on the night of the seventh of June, 1882, and that he has no knowledge or information of his whereabouts ; that he came .from Columbus, Georgia. The Attorney-General now moves that an order be made directing that the writ of error be dismissed on the third Monday of January next, unless the said Woodson shall, in the meantime, surrender himself to the custody of the sheriff of Eranklin county or of the court.
The rule is well settled that an appellate court will refuse to hear a criminal case on a writ of error when the plaintiff in error has escaped and is not within the control of the court below, either actually, by being in custody, or constructively, by being out on bail. In the case of The People vs. Genet, 59 N. Y., the court in discussing this question use this language: “When a person charged with