Jones v. State

Citations

• 75 Fla. 533
• 78 So. 529

Syllabus

<p>1. An indictment charging the defendant with murder was returned on the 24th day of July, 1917, and he was tried and convicted on said charge on the 28th day of the same month. It was alleged in the indictment that the mortal wounds were inflicted on the 19th day 'of May, 1917, from the effects of which the deceased “did on the 22nd day of April, A. Dr 1917 * * * die.” Held, that the allegation of the date of the death of the deceased is obviously error and will therefore not render the indictment fatally defective upon motion in arrest of judgment.</p> <p>2. Defects in an indictment or information .should be called to the attention of the trial court by a motion to quash or a demurrer so th|at the defects, if any, may be corrected by the filing of another indictment or information and the policy of waiting until the last stage 'of the cause and attacking such indictment or information by a motion in arrest of judgment is favored neither at common law nor by our statutes.</p> <p>3. An error in an iallegation, not essential to the validity of the indictment and which may be entirely eliminated, that is cabed to the attention 'of the defendant before the taking of testimony in the trial of the 'case is begun, and it is not made to appear that the defendant was misled or wias injured because of such defect, will not be held to render the indictment fatally defective upon a motion in arrest of judgment entered upon such indictment.</p> <p>4. A defective allegation not affecting the real merits, or a merely formal or clerical error, or an allegation of unnecessary matter not concerning the substance of the charge, is not ground for arresting the judgment.</p>