Case Name: STATE v. HUSSEY
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1911-01-30
Citations: 127 La. 1083
Docket Number: No. 18,575
Parties: STATE v. HUSSEY.
Judges: 
Reporter: Louisiana Reports
Volume: 127
Pages: 1084–1084

Head Matter:
(54 South. 358.)
No. 18,575.
STATE v. HUSSEY.
(Jan. 30, 1911.
Rehearing Denied Feb. 27, 1911.)
(Syllabus by Editorial Staff.)
1. Jury (§ 4*) — Wounding—Number of Jurors.
The offense of wounding, created by Rev. St. § 791, being punishable by imprisonment at hard labor or otherwise, is required by the Constitution to be tried by a jury of five.
[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Jury, Cent. Dig. §§ 3-7; Dec. Dig. § 4.*]
2. Criminal Law (§ 1059*) — Review— Exceptions— Scope.
Accused was charged with wounding, in violation of Rev. St. § 791, and the court, being of the impression that it was triable by a jury of 12, proceeded to impanel a jury of that number. Five jurors had been accepted, and six more had been sworn on their voir dire and accepted by the state, when it was discovered that the proper jury was five, whereupon the court ordered the six to stand aside, to which defendant filed a bill of exceptions, reciting that defendant objected to the withdrawal of the jurors and to the action of the court in ordering them to stand aside, which objection being overruled, defendant reserved a bill of exceptions. Bold, that such exception did not cover an objection that the court should not have dismissed the six, but should have dismissed the entire jury and begun anew the impanelment of a jury of five.
[Ed. Note. — For other cases, see Criminal Law, Dee. Dig. § 1059.*]
Appeal from Sixteenth Judicial District Court, Parish of St. Landry; B. H. Pavy, Judge.
Jessey Hussey was convicted of wounding, and he appeals.
Affirmed.
A. H. Garland, for appellant. Walter Guión, Atty. Gen., and R. Lee Garland, Dist. Atty. (R. G. Pleasant, of counsel), for the State.

Opinion:
PROVO STY, J.
Under the impression that the offense of which the accused stood charged, to wit, a violation of section 791, Rev. St., was triable by a jury of 12, the court was proceeding to impanel a jury of thatynumber, and 5 jurors had been accepted and sworn, and 6 more had been sworn on their voir dire, and examined and accepted by the state, when it was discovered that the proper jury was one of 5 (State v. Sinegal, 51 La. Ann. 932, 25 South. 957; State v. Beebe, 53 South. 730), whereupon the court ordered the 6 to stand aside, and the trial to proceed with the jury of 5. The bill of exception, after having stated the foregoing, proceeds as follows:
"Whereupon counsel for the defense urged an objection to the withdrawal of the said jurors and the action of the court in ordering them to stand aside, which objection being overruled, counsel for defendant reserved this bill of exception."
In support of this bill the learned counsel for the accused argues with some force that the entire jury should have been set aside, and the impaneling of the jury begun over again, as. the accused, otherwise, would not have been allowed a full opportunity for an intelligent and discriminating exercise of his right of peremptory challenges, since he might have bestowed his challenges more freely if he had known that only 5 jurors were to be chosen, and not 12. Unfortunately for that argument, it does not fit the bill of exceptions. It would fit if the objection, instead of having been to the withdrawal of the 6 new jurors, had been to the trial of the case by the 5 already sworn. The objection to the withdrawal of the new jurors was tantamount to an insistence that the case be tried by 12 jurors, for these 6 jurors had either to be withdrawn or sworn on the jury. There was no other way of disposing of them; and certainly the accused had no right to have the case tried by 12 jurors. The verdict of such a jury would have been void. State v. Beebe, 53 South. 730, recently decided.
Judgment affirmed.
Ante, p. 493.