People v. War

Citations

• 20 Cal. 117

Syllabus

<p>An indictment accusing the defendant of the crime of “ an assault with a deadly weapon, with an intent to inflict upon the person of another a bodily injury, there appearing no considerable provocation therefor,” sufficiently designates the offense with which the defendant is charged.</p> <p>It is not necessary that an indictment should state in terms that the offense charged is a felony, or is a misdemeanor. The legal appellation of the crime, as given in the statute defining the offense, must be stated, and if from this the grade of a crime does not appear, it cannot be shown by the pleader calling it a felony or a misdemeanor.</p> <p>Under the provisions of sections four and five of the Criminal- Practice Act, distinguishing felonies and misdemeanors, any offense which may be or is liable to be punished by death or imprisonment in a State prison, is a felony; and any offense which is not liable to such punishment—that is, for which that grade of punishment cannot under any circumstances be inflicted—is a misdemeanor.</p> <p>Although the offense charged in an indictment may, in the discretion of the Court in any particular case, be only punished by a fine, yet if the offense is one which is liable to be punished by imprisonment in the State prison, it must be prosecuted with the forms and solemnities of a crime of the grade of a felony.</p> <p>Where to an indictment which charges an offense punishable either by imprisonment in the State prison or by fine, a demurrer interposed by the defendant is sustained, and the defendant has judgment thereon, from which the people appeal: Hdd, that no judgment having been pronounced which protects the defendant from liability to be punished by imprisonment in the State prison, this Court has jurisdiction of the appeal.</p>