190 Ind. 550 | Ind. | 1921
— This was an action of mandamus to compel the appellant, as mayor of the city of Decatur, Indiana, -to grant an appeal to the circuit court of Adams county from a judgment of his court convicting appellant’s relator of a misdemeanor on his plea of guilty, and to certify a proper transcript of the proceedings to the circuit court.
The complaint alleged that the relator pleaded guilty in the court of the defendant mayor to a charge of unlawfully giving intoxicating liquor to a person named, and was sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and to be imprisoned in the county jail for thirty days; that appellant was the duly elected, qualified and acting mayor
Aside from some objections to the complaint that are without merit and do not require comment, the memorandum filed with the demurrer and the brief of appellant present for decision only the questions (1) whether a defendant who has pleaded guilty in a city court to a charge of having committed a public offense can appeal from the judgment of that court entered upon such plea, and (2) whether mandamus will lie to compel the mayor to grant such appeal and to certify a proper transcript, in case he refuses to do so.
-The legislature having revised the statute, as thus construed by the courts, so as to make it provide for an appeal within ten days “after judgment,” instead of “after trial,” it is a fair inference that the purpose was to avoid the construction which had been put upon the statute as it read before. And the provision that “any prisoner against whom any punishment is adjudged * * * may appeal * * * ’ within ten days after such judgment” does not carry an implication of forbidding an appeal where the defendant pleaded guilty.
A defendant in a criminal case might freely admit that he did the acts charged, but insist that they did not constitute a public offense, or that they did not constitute the particular public offense subjecting him to the penalty imposed by the justice-of the peace or city judge or mayor before whom he was tried. Or he might admit that he committed the offense of which he was adjudged guilty, but insist that under the particular circumstances he merited only the minimum penalty for that offense, where the court imposed a higher penalty, or that he was entitled to .suspension of the sentence imposed. And in either case, or for some other reason, he might desire to present his cause to another court by an appeal.
The fact that the appellee pleaded guilty in the city court, did not bar his right to appeal to the circuit court, and no error was committed in overruling appellant’s demurrer to the complaint.
The judgment is affirmed.