The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-12-21
A Question Of Filing Inf0rmati0ns

Yesterday morning the Attorney General
offered to file in the Superior Criminal Court
an information against Milton Jones, J. E.
Parker, and J. B. Jourdan, members OF the
House of Representatives, charged with &C
cepting brides to influence their votes in
matter pending before the House, to-wit:
bill entitled an act prescribing the manner of
ascertaining the amount due the Louisiana
Levee Company from the State, on the lst
day of October, 1873, and to provide for fund
ing said debt.
The Attorney General said May it please
your honor, l desire in this case to test the
right Of the Attorney General to file inforna-
lions. 1t is a very important matter, and
would like very much to have an opportunity
to obtain the ruling of the Supreme Court on
the subject.
| maintain, may it please your Honor that
both the common law and The criminal law
give the Attorney General the right to file in
formations, but in this case, l hope your
Honor will not permit the informations to be
filed, and that the reason given by your Honor
in SO deciding, may be that the otfonse
charged in the inform alton should be prose-
cu.ed by Indictment.
am perfectly satisfied, may it please the
Court, that have the right to file the inform
ation and also under the law to prosecute
the offense charged, by information, and nay
object in asking your honor to decide ad-
versely to me is as l have before stated l
am anxious to give the Supreme Court an
opportunity of deciding the question, and II
can be done in no other way.
Judge Steele answered. shall certainly
refuse to grant the request of the Attorney
! General as | have before ruled In the case OF
| P. Jones York and r. f. Ray, where the OF,
! tense is the same as charged IN this lnforma-
tion-that the Attorney General has the right
| to file the information.
| shall also decline to accede to the request
of the Attorney General simply for the pur
pose of allowing him to make test case, as q
ruling of that kind would be directly in op
position to the ruling of the court in previ
GUS case. The Supreme Court has, on more
than one occasion, refused to consider cast
simply made up as q test case, and will say
further, that motion to qaash the informa
ton would depend entirely upon the right o.
the Attorney General to file the information
The position the Attorney General has
taken in this case is, to say the least, little
peculiar, as on former occasion, when az
objection was raised by counsel for defen
dants in the case of the State VS.. T. Jones
Yorke, J. w. Matthews ct ais, to the right Of
the Attorney General to file the informatiops
he seemed considerably exercised, ant
even Indignant, that the right OF the Attorney
General to file an information should even bt
questioned, and commended that the right O.
the Attorney General to file information was
so we'll established by law that he was sur
prised at counsel objecting.
Judge Steele asked if the information il
this case was valid, and being assured (by tn
Attorney Genera) it was, ordered the same tt
be fled, and fixed the bail OF each of the de
PENDANTS at $1,000 each.