State v. Batson

Citations

• 108 La. 479

Syllabus

<p>Syllabus.</p> <p>1. Though a criminal act may operate on more than one person, or thing, nevertheless, if it be but one act, consummated at one time, it may be charged asoné offense, and an indictment, charging, in one count, the murder of six persons, is not bad, for duplicity, unless it appears, upon its face, that the-deaths resulted from two or more distinct acts. But, if, upon the trial, it is shown that all the deaths did not result from the same act, the accused may, then, compel the State to elect upon which charge it will proceed.</p> <p>2. Under the statute of 1898 (No. 135), a venire is not to be quashed merely for irregularities, or for non-compliance with' the literal requirements of the law, in the matter of selecting and summoning the jurors, but only “where fraud has been practiced, or some great wrong committed, in the selection and summoning of the jury, that would work irreparable injury.” Hence, the constructive injury resulting to the accused in a criminal prosecution from the facts, that the names on the slips placed in the general venire box are written by the clerk and the jury commissioners, instead of being written by the clerk, alone, and that the name of one juror is, by accident, duplicated, so that the whole number in the box falls one short of that contemplated by the statute, does not justify the quashing of the venire, in the absence of proof of fraud or actual injury.</p> <p>3. The jury list and venire box are to be supplemented twice a year, or oftener, as the judge may require, so that the list shall contain 3C0 names of “competent, good and true” jurors ; from which 20 are to be selected for the grand' jury, leaving 280 to be put in the box. Save, however, upon the occasions' when the box is thus supplemented, it is not required that it should contain 280 names; but it should, at all times, barring accidents and oversights, contain that number, less the number previously and legally drawn since it' was last supplemented.</p> <