Case ID: ala_142/html/0032-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "TYSON, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Walker v. The State.
    
      Indictment for Murder.
    
    1. Judgment or conviction; void when rendered on day court not authorized to sit. — Tie judgment of conviction in a criminal case which is'rendered úpon a day when the court is not legally in session, and at a term when the court is not authorized to sit, is void, and an appeal from such judgment will he dismissed. _
    Appeal, from the Circuit Court of Madison.
    Tried before the Hon. Paul Speaks.
    The appellant in this case, Minerva Walker, was indicted for murder, was convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to' the penitentiary for life.
    The indictment was preferred by the grand jury of the circuit court of Madison county at the February term of 1904, of said court, and the case was tried at the same term of the court.
    W. R. Walker, for appellant.
    Massey Wilson, Attorney-General, for the State.
   TYSON, J.

The indictment was preferred by a grand-jury organized by the Hon. Paul Speake, whom we have held was a de facto judge, and at a time when the court could be held. It is, therefore, valid. The trial .and conviction, however, were had upon a day when the court was not legally in session. The judgment of conviction is, therefore, void.

Appeal dismissed.

Haralson, Simpson and Anderson, J.J., concurring.