State v. Riggs

Citations

• 110 La. 509
• 34 So. 655
• 1903 La. LEXIS 662

Syllabus

<p>'CRIMINAL LAW — JURY—SUMMONING DE TALI-BUS — PROCEDURE—TRIAL—INTIMIDATION OP JURY — VERDICT—OVERT ACT.</p> <p>1. A conviction condemning a person to suffer the extreme penalty of the law must be sustained, as relates to a point alleged and urged as a judicial error, if the facts are not set forth by the clerk under direction of the court, and the narrative of these facts is incorporated in the bill of exceptions. Here they were not taken down by the clerk, although the defendant requested to have them taken by that officer.</p> <p>The letter of Act No. 113, p. 162, of 1896, must be complied with, and the record made up as it directs. The right of the trial judge to summon jurors de talibus after the general panel for the term has been exhausted is un- ¡ questioned; also the right of the court to pro- j ceed with the trial without regard to the fact that a jury has been impaneled and will not report in time to serve on the jury being drawn. On objection it should be shown in manner required before the appellate court that 12 jurors of the panel were deliberating in another case, as well as other facts accounting for the absence of jurors. The defendant having objected to the order directing jurors de talibus to be summoned, it then devolved on the prosecution to show that the panel had been exhausted by such steps as needful, even though the defendant did not specially request the court to order the names of the jurors to be called. There would have been no need to call the list of jurors if the statement incorporated in the bill of exceptions had been taken down by the clerk, as required by Act No. 113, p. 162, of 1896. i</p> <p>2. The jurors are to be made comfortable for the night after they have been locked up, whether before or after they find their verdict.</p> <p>3. Intimidation, if it amounts to anything, has a destroying tendency in matter of proceedings requiring calm deliberation. ,</p> <p>The ruling has the appearance of correctness. If, however, the a