State v. Collins

Citations

• 116 Wash. 363
• 199 P. 745
• 1921 Wash. LEXIS 856

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law (26, 45, 50)—Jurisdiction—Of Justice of Peace— Former Jeopardy. A justice of the peace is without jurisdiction to assess a fine and enter judgment based only on a plea of guilty of defendant that he had committed an assault, in view of the provisions of Rem. Code, §§ 1929-1931, to the effect that a defendant may plead guilty, but in all cases where the offense charged involves an injury to a particular person within the county, such person’s attendance at the trial should be enforced, and the testimony of witnesses taken as to the circumstances of the transaction; hence such judgment' of the justice would not constitute a bar, on the theory of former jeopardy, to a subsequent prosecution in the superior court for the same offense.</p> <p>Same (26,-45, 50). In a prosecution for assault, the refusal to admit in evidence the record of a justice of the peace to show a prior conviction for the same offense was proper, where the record was silent as to the steps necessary to sustain the jurisdiction of the justice to enter final judgment; there being no presumption attaching to the record that the justice proceeded properly under the statutes.</p> <p>Parker, C. J., Mitchell, Mackintosh, and Bridges, JJ., dissent.</p>