Reeves v. State

Citations

• 29 Fla. 527

Syllabus

<p>1. A demurrer to a replication to a plea in abatement will reach the plea if defective.</p> <p>2. The greatest accuracy and precision are required in pleas in abatement merely setting up irregularities in the selection or drawing of jurors, and such pleas must be free from uncertainty or ambiguity.</p> <p>3. The statute (Section 1, Chapter 3125, laws of 1879) providing a time for the Boards of County Commissioners to select from the list of registered voters in their respective counties a jury list of persons properly qualified to serve as jurors is directory ; and should said commissioners fail to make the selection at the January meeting mentioned in the statute, it would be competent for them to do so at a subsequent meeting.</p> <p>4. The provision of the statute, supra, that the Boards of County Commissioners shall select from'the registered voters of their respective counties a list of three hundred persons properly qualified to serve as jurors, who shall be such persons only as said commissioners know, or have good reason to believe, are of approved integrity, fair character, sound judgment and intelligence, provided that in any counties of this State said commissioners shall not be able to select the number required, they shall be authorized to select a less number, but said number to be the highest possible, invests such boards with authority to pass upon the integrity, character, judgment and intelligence of the persons to be selected as jurors, and in the absence of an illegal purpose, fraud or corruption in the selection of a less number than three hundred, the discretionary power of the commissioners in such matters will not be disturbed.</p> <p>5. An objection that the offense charged in the indictment is vague, indefinite and insufficient to protect the accused against a subsequent prosecution, shall be made in the shape of an attack on the indictment, and not by a motion for a new trial on the ground that the verdict is contrary to law.</p> <p>6.