State v. Harris

Citations

• 119 La. 297
• 44 So. 22
• 1907 La. LEXIS 471

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal Law — Former Jeopardy.</p> <p>The defendant, charged with murder, interposed the plea of former jeopardy.</p> <p>2. Same — Recital of Facts.</p> <p>He had been tried to the extent that the testimony had gone to the jury. The usual proceedings were observed. The jury retired to their room of deliberation. After two hours they returned and reported to the court that they could not agree. The court ordered note of a mistrial to be made and discharged the jury.</p> <p>The complaint on the second trial was that the time allowed for deliberation was not sufficient.</p> <p>3. Same — Discretion of Trial Judge.</p> <p>Many things within judicial proceedings cannot be brought within an exact rule. Necessarily many are left to the. discretion of the trial judge.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 14, Criminal Law, § 2072.]</p> <p>4. Same — Mistrial.</p> <p>The trial court, having heard the evidence, was aware of the nature of the questions involved. and was in a position to determine whether the jury had deliberated a sufficient length of time to justify entering an order of mistrial and discharging the jury.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 14, Criminal Law, §§ 2071-2078.]</p> <p>5. Same — No Former Jeopardy.</p> <p>Unless the court has manifestly erred, the order complained of will not afford ground to enable the defendant to successfully stand on the plea of former jeopardy and claim his acquittal.</p> <p>[Ed. Note. — For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 14, Criminal Law, § 344.]</p> <p>6. Same — Time for Deliberation.</p> <p>While this court has always sought to impress the trial court with the importance of avoiding hurry in the trial of criminal cases, it has left it in great part to the trial court in its discretion of judging of the length of time a jury should deliberate.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>