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20 Fla. 802

Cook v. State

Supreme Court of Florida

Decided June 15, 1884

Supreme Court of Florida · decided 1884-06-15

<p>Writ of Error to the Circuit Court for Orange county.</p> <p>The facts of the case are stated in the opinion.</p>

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1884-06-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently August 1984

4 state decisions

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Mr. Justice YasYalkenburgb:

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2At the Fall Term of the Orange County Circuit Court in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-three, the grand jury found an indictment against Franklin Cook, charging that on the first day of August, 1883, he did, with force and arms, at and in the county of Orange, “ commit the crime of fornication by then and there having carnal knowledge of the body of one Rachel Cook. The said Franklin Cook and the said Rachel Cook, each being then and there single and unmarried, and the said Franklin Cook and the said Rachel Cook not being then and there lawfully married to each other, and the said Franklin Cook and Rachel Cook being then and there within the degrees of consanguinity within which marriages are prohibited and declared by law to be incestuous and void, to wit: the said Franklin Cook being then and there the father of the said Rachel Cook, and the said Rachel Cook being then and there the daughter of the said Franklin Cook.” In May, 1884, the 'cause was tried and the defendant convicted. Counsel for the defendant moved for a new trial, which motion was denied, and they thereupon bring the cause to this court by writ of error.

¶3Several alleged errors are assigned.

¶4But one witness, Rachel Cook, was examined upon the part of the State. Two witnesses were examined upon the part of the defence: and the State’s Attorney and the counsel for the defendant have certified that “ all the evidence ” is embodied in the record. [There is, of course, also a bill *804ot exceptions, signed and sealed by the Circuit Judge.— Reporter.]

¶5It is sufficient to say that the defendant was not properly convicted upon the evidence as it appears in the record. There was no venue proven. It nowhere appears in the proofs in what county or State, or in what month or year the crime was committed, if committed at all. These are material allegations, and should have been proven. 1 Bishop Crim. Prac., §884; Holeman vs. State, 13 Ark., 105; Hoover vs. State, 1 W. Va., 836; Evans vs. State, 17 Fla., 192; Nelson vs. State, 17 Ib., 195.

¶6The judgment is reversed and new trial granted.

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