Yates v. People

Citations

• 38 Ill. 527

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal law—of sending a weapon to a jury on their retirement, with which to make experiments. A party on trial upon a charge of murder was defended on the theory that the deceased had come to his death by his own hand, by shooting with a pistol, which was found near his person. On the trial a pistol was shown to the jury and identified as one which had been sold to the prisoner, but it was not proved to be the one that was found near the deceased, and by the agency of which he undoubtedly came, to his death. After the retirement of the jury, the pistol which had been shown to them on the trial was sent to them, without the knowledge of the prisoner, his counsel or the court, and they experimented with it for the purpose of judging whether, under the circumstances proven, the deceased could have shot himself with that weapon. The trial resulted in a verdict of guilty; and it was held, that because the pistol which had not been properly identified as the one by means of which the deceased was killed, was allowed to go to the jury without the prisoner’s consent, a new trial should have been granted.</p> <p>2. Same—of the appointment of a foreman to a grand jury—whether it must appear from the record. It is not necessary that the record in a criminal cause should show the appointment of a foreman to the grand jury who found the indictment. The essential point is, that the record should show that a grand jury, duly qualified, returned the indictment into open court.</p> <p>3. In this case, which was upon a change of venue, the record showed that on a certain day, the grand jurors, chosen, selected, empannelled and sworn in and for the county in which the indictment was found, returned into open court an indictment, which was then set out in hsec verba, and this record was accompanied by the original indictment upon which was indorsed, “a true bill,” the indorsement being signed by one of the grand jurors as “foreman.” This was sufficient.</p> <p>4. Same—whether o