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154 La. 544

State v. Stovall

Supreme Court of Louisiana

Decided October 22, 1923

Supreme Court of Louisiana · decided 1923-10-22

Cited by 6 later decisions — most recently June 1961

6 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““Applications for new trials upon the ground of newly discovered evidence should be received with extreme caution. The utmost reliance must be placed upon the trial judge, who sees and hears the witnesses, and who is in a position to observe their appearance and conduct upon the stand. Where he has satisfied himself by an'examination of the witnesses that false swearing has been resorted to for the purpose of obtaining a new trial, this court will not interfere with his order refusing the same, unless the record shows manifest error.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including State v. Brandle

Relies on State v. Hill · State v. Williams · State v. Drummond

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1923-10-22

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

ROGERS, J.

¶1Defendant has appealed from a conviction and sentence for the crime of robbery. Relief is sought in this court under a bill of exception reserved to the refusal of the judge to sustain a motion for a new trial because of an amendment to the information changing the date of the crime charged and upon the ground of newly discovered evidence, tending to prove an alibi.

¶2Defendant avers that while the information originally charged the commission of the crime on March 8, 1923, said date was changed, on the day of the trial, to read January 21, 1923, and that by reason of said alteration he was misled in his defense.

¶3The amendment in date, which was consented to by counsel for the accused in his presence, was made before the impaneling of the jury, and the trial was proceeded with without objection.

¶4It is difficult to understand how defendant could have been misled as to his defense by the change of the date in the information made with his knowledge and consent before the beginning of the trial.

¶5It further appears from the record that when the state’s attorney moved to amend the information so as to substitute January 21, 1923, for March 8, 1923, counsel for defendant, in consenting thereto, stated: “That’s all right; my client says he was on a ship that day.”

¶6Defendant follows the calling of mariner, and although he testified that he was not in town, being on a ship, on the day when the crime was committed, the records of the United States Shipping Board failed to substantiate his statement, and it 'was finally admitted by his counsel that he was in the city of New Orleans on the day in question.

¶7It is well settled that an error in date may be amended before or during trial. State v. Drummond, 132 La. 749, 61 South. 778; State v. Lee, 127 La. 1077, 54 South. 356; State v. Wallman, 31 La. Ann. 147. An information may be amended with leave of court, the subject being within its sound discretion. State v. Terrebonne et al., 45 La. Ann. ?6, 12 South. 315.

¶8The declared purpose of the alleged newly discovered evidence is to impeach the veracity of the witnesses for the state, by showing that on the day the offense was alleged to have been committed defendant was one of the musicians in a three-piece band at a “penny party” in the section of the city of New Orleans known as “Algiers,” and, in consequence thereof, could not have been at the scene of the crime charged.

¶9In addition to their affidavits appended to the motion for a new trial, the two alleged newly discovered witnesses took the stand in its support. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge refused the new trial, assigning as one of his reasons therefor that he did not believe the testimony.

¶10Applications for new trials upon the ground of newly discovered,evidence should be received with extreme caution. The utmost reliance must be placed upon the trial judge, who sees and hears the witnesses, and who is in a position to observe their appearance and conduct upon the stand. Where he has satisfied himself by an examination of the witnesses that false swearing has been resorted to for the purpose of obtaining a new trial, this court will not interfere with his order refusing the same, unless the record shows manifest error. State v. Patterson, 150 La. 122, 90 South. 532; State v. Hill, 135 La. 625, 65 South. 763; State v. Williams, 38 La. Ann. 361; State v. Beaird, 34 La. Ann. 104.

¶11Judgment affirmed.

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