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2 Shan. Cas. 610

State v. House

Tennessee Supreme Court

Decided December 15, 1877

Tennessee Supreme Court · decided 1877-12-15

<p>(S. C., 3 Leg. Rep., 300, 301.)</p> <p>CRIMINAL LAW. Indictment quashed when offense barred by statute of limitations.</p> <p>Indictment for a misdemeanor will be quashed because the prosecution was not commenced within twelve months [or within the time prescribed for commencing a prosecution for the particular offense] after the commission of the offense. [See note under sec. 6943 of the Code.] ,</p> <p>Cited and construed: Code (1858), secs. 4983, 4984, 4987, 4988; Shannon’s Code, secs. 6943, 6943, 6946, 6947.</p>

Decided 1877-12-15

Ttnansr, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court:

¶2Sec. 4983 of the Code provides: “All prosecutions for misdemeanors, unless otherwise expressly provided, shall be commenced within twelve months next after the offense has been committed.”

¶3The next section restricts the time within which to commence a prosecution for unlawful gaming to six months.

¶4By sec. 4987, “a prosecution is commenced, within the meaning of this chapter, by the issuance of a warrant, or by binding over the offender.”

¶5By sec. 4988, “no period, during which the party charged was nor usually and publicly resident within the state, is included in the time of limitation.”

¶6The section first quoted establishes the general rule, and all cases covered by its terms are presumed to be governed by it, and fall within its operation.

¶7The state must, by its indictment or presentment, present its whole case in such terms as to give the accused notice of what he is to defend.

¶8If, for any of the causes mentioned in the statute, the state claims the prosecution may be commenced more than *611twelve months after the commission of the offense, the facts making such cause must he averred.

¶9The accused has the right to contest the truth of the alleged cause, and is entitled to have the facts averred that he may make the issue.

¶10The indictment in this case is in the usual form, and there is nothing from which it may he inferred that under the statute the prosecution might have been commenced more than twelve months after the commission of the offense.

¶11The indictment was properly quashed.

Judges McFarland and Freeman dissent.
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