Case Name: Shelt Chambers v. Commonwealth
Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals
Jurisdiction: Kentucky
Decision Date: 1880-03-10
Citations: 10 Ky. Op. 540
Docket Number: 
Parties: Shelt Chambers v. Commonwealth.
Judges: 
Reporter: Kentucky Opinions, containing the unreported opinions of the Court of Appeals
Volume: 10
Pages: 540–541

Head Matter:
Shelt Chambers v. Commonwealth.
Plea of Former Acquittal.
Evidence of a former acquittal in a criminal case is inadmissible where tbe plea of former acquittal had not been properly entered, the only record of such a plea being “This day came the defendant and entered a plea of not guilty and former acquittal.”
APPEAL FROM MADISON CIRCUIT COURT.
March 10, 1880.

Opinion:
Opinion by
Judge Hines:
The judgment of the court below was reversed upon the supposition that the plea of former acquittal had been properly entered; but our attention is called to the fact that'the only record evidence of such a plea is the following order: "This day came the defendant and entered a plea of not guilty and former acquittal." This is not sufficient, under Sec. 164 of the Criminal Code, to authorize the introduction of evidence to establish the fact of a former acquittal. A plea properly entered and sustained by evidence would entitle appellant, under the 'authority of Commonwealth v. Bright, 78 Ky. 238, to a reversal, but in the absence of a plea the evidence is incompetent and the judgment must be affirmed.
W. B. Smith, for appellant.
Hardin, for appellee.