Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

141 Ind. 464

Bruce v. State

Indiana Supreme Court

Decided June 5, 1895

Indiana Supreme Court · decided 1895-06-05

<p>Ckiminai/ Law. — Bills of Exceptions. — When not Properly in Becord.— Where a judgment in a criminal case was entered September 22, and bills of exceptions were not filed until April 5th thereafter (a motion for a new trial having been made during the term and overruled February 10th, and sixty days given in which to file bills of exceptions), the bills of exceptions are not properly in the record.</p>

Relies on Calvert v. State · Hunter v. State · Marshall v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1895-06-05

How this case has been cited

Cited by 8 later decisions — most recently June 1921

8 state decisions

301895190019101920decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Howard, C. J.

¶1The appellant was convicted of grand larceny and sentenced to imprisonment in the State’s prison.

¶2The only error assigned is the overruling of the motion for a new trial.

¶3From the record it appears that on September 22,1898, at the September term, 1893, of the Vigo Circuit Court, judgment was rendered against the appellant.

¶4A motion for a new trial was prayed during the térm, but was not heard until February 10, 1894, when it was overruled, an appeal prayed, and sixty days given for bills of exceptions.

¶5If this were a civil case the appeal, although somewhat dilatory, would have been properly perfected.

¶6By section 1916, R. S. 1894 (section 1847, R. S. 1881), it is provided that: “All bills of exceptions, in a criminal prosecution, must be made out and presented to the judge at the time of the trial, or within such time thereafter as the judge may allow, not exceeding sixty days from the time judgment is rendered; and they must be signed by the judge and filed by the clerk. The exceptions must be taken at the time of the trial.”

¶7The judgment in this case was rendered September 22, 1893; and the bills of exceptions were made out and presented to the judge April 5, 1894. It would seem clear that the bills came too late.

¶8In Hunter v. State, 101 Ind. 406, it was held that under the foregoing statute, “The trial is terminated by the *466final judgment, and that the leave to file a bill must be obtained before the judgment, or at least concurrently with its entry.”

Filed June 5, 1895.

¶9In the present case, leave for additional time to file the bill was not given until February 10, 1894, long after the rendition of the judgment, and even after the term at which judgment was entered.

¶10In Bartley v. State, 111 Ind. 358, it was said that: “The power of the court, therefore, to extend the time within which a bill of exceptions may be filed, after the close of the term, is, in a criminal cause, limited to sixty days after the judgment is rendered. The rule to be observed in making out and filing bills of exceptions in criminal causes, is less elastic, and has been, and still is not so liberal as that prescribed in civil cases.” See, also, Calvert v. State, 91 Ind. 473; Marshall v. State, 123 Ind. 128; Moore and Elliott Crim. Law, section 276.

¶11The bills of exceptions not being in the record no question is presented, under the error assigned, that the court overruled the motion for a new trial.

¶12The judgment is affirmed.

/141/ind/464 · .json · Public domain