State v. Marion

Citations

• 68 Wash. 675
• 124 P. 125
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1352

Syllabus

<p>Information — Surplusage—Issues—Election —Appeal —Harmless Error — Error Favorable to Appellant. Where a statute provided for three separate offenses of graft, it is surplusage and harmless, in an information for the first offense, to allege a further condition applicable only to the last two offenses, as it was error favorable to the defendant to undertake to prove more than was required; and where the information clearly on its face purports to charge the offense in the first provision, it is itself an election, and a motion to require an election is properly overruled.</p> <p>Trial — Instructions—Written Instructions — Necessity —Oral Explanation. Rem. & Bal. Code, § 339, requiring written instructions to the jury is not violated, where written instructions upon the principles of law were given, and the court added an oral explanation of what he had read that did not amount to a positive direction as to the law of the ease.</p> <p>Appeal —Review— Harmless Error — Trial — Misconduct of Counsel — Argument to Jury. It is not prejudicial error that counsel in argument to the jury made an improper remark, which, on objection, the court instructed the jury to disregard.</p> <p>Trial — Misconduct of Counsel. Counsel may, in argument, draw a legitimate conclusion from the evidence.</p> <p>Same. It is not sufficient to authorize a reversal that the prosecuting attorney remarked, after objections were overruled, that he did not blame defendant’s counsel for wincing.</p> <p>Bribery — Offenses—Graft—“Official Duty.” While a sufficient information is pending against a person in custody, it is the “official duty” of the prosecuting attorney to prosecute the case, within the meaning of Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2333, defining graft as the asking of a gratuity or reward on any promise or representation that the person can or will influence the official action of any public officer not to perform his official duty.</p> <p>Bribery — Evidence—Sufficiency. There is sufficient evidence