People v. Stokes

Citations

• 103 Cal. 193
• 37 P. 207
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 747

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Jurisdiction of Offense—Creation of New County— Dismissal of Prosecution in Old County—Jeopardy.—A newly-created county has jurisdiction of a defendant charged with the commission of an offense prior to the creation of the new county, and upon territory within its boundary lines; and the fact that at the date of the creation of the new county a prosecution for the offense was pending against him in the old county is no bar to a prosecution in the new county, where the former prosecution was dismissed prior to the commencement of the prosecution in the new county, and no jeopardy had attached prior to the dismissal.</p> <p>Id.—New Trial—Reading of Newspaper Article in Jury-room.— Where, upon a motion for a new trial in a criminal case, it is shown by the evidence of the officer in charge of the jury that the jurors, after retiring to deliberate upon their verdict, read an article in a local newspaper containing a report of the evidence in the case, including certain evidence which the court had ruled to be inadmissible, and also containing intimations that two of the jurors had been corrupted, and no contrary showing is made by affidavits of the jurors, or otherwise, a new trial should be granted.</p> <p>Id.—Influence of Jurors—Presumption—Misconduct of Jury.—The reading by the jurors in a criminal case of a newspaper article published during the pendency of the trial, which states that “It is currently reported on the streets that the jury will fail to bring in a verdict, and that two men will hang the jury; it is also believed that the two men are known, and that the whereabouts of ‘Colonel Mazuma’ are also known,” will be presumed to have influenced the jurors, and a new trial should be granted for misconduct of the jury in reading the article.</p>