Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

39 Mo. 430

State v. Coupenhaver

Supreme Court of Missouri

Decided January 15, 1867

Supreme Court of Missouri · decided 1867-01-15

<p>1. Evidence — Jury—Misconduct.—One of the jurors cannot be >a witness to prove misconduct of the jury in making their verdict.</p> <p>2. Criminal Practice — Filing Indictment. — The omission of the clerk to enter upon the indictment the date of its filing is no ground for arresting the judgment.</p>

Relies on Sawyer v. Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad · State v. Clark · Pratte v. Coffman

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1867-01-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2017

6 state decisions

201867187018801890190019101920193019401950196019701980199020002010decided

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 →

Holmes, Judge,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2This case is submitted upon the recold, without briefs. We have examined the record and find no sufficient ground for the reversal of the judgment. A motion for a new trial was overruled. The ground of the motion was that the jurors had rendered the verdict upon an agreement among themselves, when they retired, that they would take a vote upon the question of guilty or not guilty; and that if a majority should be in favor of finding the defendant guilty, or not guilty, the verdict should be rendered accordingly : and the defendant offered to call two of the jurors to prove the fact. This testimony was excluded. The law is well settled that a traverse juror cannot be a witness to prove misbehavior in the jury in regard to their verdict — Pratte v. Coffman, 33 Mo. 71; Sawyer v. Hann & St. Jo. R.R. Co., 37 Mo. 264.

¶3Another objection was made a ground for a motion in arrest, that the record did not show when the indictment was found and returned into court. It was endorsed “ a true bill,” signed by the foreman, but the date of the filing does *431not appear; but it sufficiently appears that the indictment was filed and a capias issued for the arrest of the defendant. This omission constitutes no valid ground for a motion in arrest — State v. Clark, 18 Mo. 432.

¶4Some other reasons were assigned for the motion in arrest. They were immaterial, and need not be specially noticed.

¶5Judgment affirmed.

The other judges concur.
/39/mo/430 · .json · Public domain