State v. Coston

Citations

• 113 La. 717
• 37 So. 619
• 1904 La. LEXIS 698

Syllabus

<p>CRIMINAL LAW — PLEA — SETTING ASIDE — APPEAL — RECORD—PRESENCE OP ACCUSED —PETIT LARCENY — SENTENCE.</p> <p>1.A plea of guilty, which has been induced by error, should be permitted to be set aside.</p> <p>2. The oath of the accused verifying a motion to set aside such a plea, comes up as part of the pleadings, and, in order that it may be considered by this court, does not necessarily have to be annexed to the bill of exceptions reserved to the ruling of the court on the motion.</p> <p>3. The following entry on the minutes: “The defendant, Clem Coston, assisted by his counsel, AVm. C. Pegues, Esq., in open court, withdrew his plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to petty larceny” — fails to show that when the plea was entered the accused was present in court in person.</p> <p>4. In cases of felony the accused must be present in court in person when a plea of guilty is entered.</p> <p>5. Petit larceny being punishable or not by imprisonment in the penitentiary, accordingly as the value of the stolen property falls above or below $20, the value of the property charged to have been stolen must be fixed either by plea or by verdict before the judge can pass sentence ; hence the judge cannot impose a sentence of imprisonment in the penitentiary in a case where, the charge being larceny, the accused has entered a plea of guilty of petit larceny.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>