People v. Ward

Citations

• 105 Cal. 335
• 38 P. 945
• 1894 Cal. LEXIS 1159

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law—Homicide—Trial—Impaneling of Jury—Continuance —Preparation of Attorney—Discretion.—Where an attorney appointed to defend a person upon a charge of murder, on the day when the cause was called for trial, asked for a continuance, upon the ground that he had recently come into the case as the attorney of the defendant and desired time to familiarize himself with the facts, but did not support the motion by an affidavit or other written evidence, and the motion for a continuance was denied upon the ground that the matter of impanelment of a jury needed no long preparation, and it appeared that defendant’s counsel practically had a continuance of five days during the impanelment of the jury, and before the trial began, to prepare for the trial upon its merits, the discretion of the court in refusing a continuance before the jury was impaneled was not abused.</p> <p>Id.—Plea of Insanity—Drunkenness—Acceptance of Jurors.—The fact that counsel for defendant examined and accepted six jurors after questioning them as to their views of the plea of insanity in general, and only discovered that the claim of insanity on the part of defendant was based on the foundation of drunkenness, after such examination, does not prove error in refusing the continuance, where it appears that after full knowledge of the claim of insanity the counsel did not ask further to examine the six jurors.</p> <p>Id.—Excuse of Juror After Acceptance—Waiver.—A juror may for cause be excused by the court after having been once accepted, and in criminal cases the court may for cause permit a peremptory challenge to be taken after the juror is sworn, and before the jury is completed, and the failure of counsel for defendant to show cause, or to request the privilege of further questioning or challenging jurors already accepted, is a waiver on behalf of the defendant of his right so to do.</p> <p>Id.—Testimony of Police Officer—Order to Arrest Defendant.—The testimony of a police officer that