Case Name: William Kennedy vs. The State of Florida
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1876-01
Citations: 15 Fla. 635
Docket Number: 
Parties: William Kennedy vs. The State of Florida.
Judges: 
Reporter: Florida Reports
Volume: 15
Pages: 635–636

Head Matter:
William Kennedy vs. The State of Florida.
1. Previous to the constitutional amendments of 1875, the Circuit Courts had no jurisdiction to , try a party charged with a misdemeanor, except upon appeal from the cpunty court, and a judgement of. the Cir- ■ chit Court upon a conviction for a misdemeanor tried upon indictment in that court, was void. - -
2. An indictment charging a’n “ assault with intent to Kill,” charges a mis- , demeanor under an. act-of February IQ, 1832, the penalty not being imprisonment in the State prison; and the offense is not included in the provisions of Section 46, Chapter 3 of the Criminal Code of 1868.
Writ of error to the Circuit Court of Orange cóiinty.
No counsel appeared for the Appellant.
Attorney-General W. A. Cocke submitted the case on the part of the State. , v

Opinion:
RANDALL, C. J.,
delivered the opinion of the court.
Plaintiff in error was indicted for an " assault with intent to kill,'''under an act of February. 10, 1832, (Thompson's Dig., 490,) the punishment for which is' prescribed to' be " by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment., not.exceeding six.;months;,cat the;discretion:of the jury." Accused was tried in April, 1875, and sentenced, upon conviction, to imprisonment in the State prison.
The statute of 1868, relating to crimes and punishment, provides that any crime punishable by death or imprisonment in the State prison is a felony, and every other offense is a misdemeanor.
The original jurisdiction of the Circuit Courts, as defined by the Constitution, (before the late amendments, which were adopted after the trial took place,) in criminal cases, was confined to the trial of felonies, (Section 8, Article VI,) and the appellate jurisdiction to the trial of misdemeanors upon appeal from the county court.
The offense charged in the indictment not being punishable by imprisonment in the State prison, is not a felony unr der the statute. The Circuit Court, therefore, had no original jurisdiction at the time of this trial, and the proceedings'and judgment were void.
The Constitution gives the Supreme Court appellate jurisdiction in "criminal cases in which the offense charged amounts to felony." (Section 5, Article VI.) The jurisdiction being thus - confined, we can,neither affirm nor reverse the judgment, and the writ of eiTor must be dismissed. •(Suttton vs. The State, 13 Fla., 670.)
The offensé: here charged is not included in the provisions of Section 46, Chapter 3, of " an act to provide for the punishment,of crime and proceedings jn criminal cases," approved August 6, 1868. :
"Writ of error dismissed.