State ex rel. Murphy v. Superior Court for Whatcom County

Citations

• 82 Wash. 284
• 144 P. 32
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1499

Syllabus

<p>Grand Jury — Selection—Statutes. A grand jury is illegally drawn where the necessary seventeen grand jurors were arbitrarily selected by the court from forty of the attending qualified jurors drawn by the clerk by chance, as required by 3 Rem. & Bal. Code, §§94-4 and 94-5; since an essential in the selection of jurors is the element of chance, and the judge has no power in the matter except to pass upon their qualifications.</p> <p>Same — “Impaneled” or “Drawn.” While the statute, 3 Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 94-4, 94-5, provides for the selection of petit and grand jurors by drawing names by chance without use of the word “impaneled,” there is no such distinction between the words “drawn” and “impaneled” as here used, as to permit the judge to select without chance, a grand jury, in view of Const, art. 1, § 21, guaranteeing the right of trial by jury as a right inviolate, meaning as it existed at common law, and Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2099, subd. 5, especially reeognizing the right to challenge the legal standing of a grand jury, and Id., § 2025, specifying as one ground of challenge, that the clerk had not drawn from the jury box the requisite number to constitute a grand jury, meaning the grand jury as finally selected.</p> <p>Same — Selecting—Methods op Dbawing. A grand jury may be selected by the clerk’s drawing a certain number from the jury list, and qualifying them singly until sufficient jurors are obtained; or all drawn might be first qualified, and a sufficient number drawn by chance to make up the grand jury.</p>