Court Opinion

ID: 8854908
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-26 17:26:20.12121+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:05:37.493661
License: Public Domain

PARDEE, Circuit Judge
(after stating the facts as above). There was no error in overruling the motion to strike out the defendants' first plea. As we read the said plea, it is neither more nor less than the general issue.
The third plea alleges a waiver hy, and an estoppel against, John I,. Moore, substantially, in that the said John L. Moore, after his arrest under a capias commanding the arrest of L. L. L. Moore, appeared before a commissioner of the circuit court of the United States, and entered into a recognizance, with sureties, for his appearance to answer certain criminal charges before tlie United State's district court- for the Southern district of Mississippi, and in said recognizances admitted that he was indicted under the name of L. L. L. Moore, and thereafter again appeared before the same commissioner, and entered into another recognizance, with surety, for his appearance before the said district court to answer, etc., therein and thereby admitting that he was L. L. L. Moore; and that thereafter the said John Ij. Moore appeared in the district court of the United States for the Southern district, of Mississippi, and was there arraigned on an indictment hy the name of L. L. L. Moore, and there, in the presence of the district attorney and the judge of the court, in open court, and a jury impaneled, the said John L. Moore *976did then and there plead not guilty, and go to trial on the merits of said cause, the said trial resulting in a verdict of not guilty, — all of which defendants offer to verify by the record.
There is no doubt that a tort like a false arrest may be waived. See 3 Wait, Act. & Def. 327, 328. And if it be true, in fact, that John L. Moore was arrested by the marshal, under a capias commanding the arrest of L. L. L. Moore, and thereafter the said John L. Moore voluntarily admitted that he was the person named in the indictment, and entered, into a recognizance for his appearance, and thereafter was brought before the court in which the indictment against L. L. L. Moore was found, and there was arraigned as the identical L. L. L. Moore, and made no objection thereto, then it would seem that the said John L. Moore ought to be thereafter precluded from contending that he was not the person named in the indictment and capias.
The plaintiffs’ usee met the third plea by a general demurrer, which, we are of opinion, was properly overruled. Perhaps, if the objections urged against the first plea had been urged against the third, the result would have been more satisfactory to the plaintiffs. The demurrer being overruled, the plaintiffs’ usee replied to the third plea, substantially, that he entered into both recognizances under duress, protesting that he was not the said L. L. L. Moore, and refused to sign the said bonds otherwise than by his name of John L. Moore, and was induced and coerced to sign the same under threats of imprisonment and actual imprisonment; and as to that part of the plea alleging a trial before the district court for the Southern district of Mississippi, he denied that he was ever arraigned and tried, as alleged in said plea, that such proceedings were ever had, or that said John L. Moore was ever arraigned, or afforded opportunity to plead in any way, and he averred that the said cause was disposed of by the district attorney in the absence of, and without the knowledge of, said John L. Moore, and by instructing the jury to find and return a verdict of not guilty, without arraignment or trial of any kind on the merits of the controversy. Conceding that a tort, like'a false arrest, may be waived, we are clear that the waiver must .be voluntary. So far as any waiver can be claimed as to the giving of the recognizances before the United States commissioner, which were matters in pais and not of record (Inglee v. Coolidge, 2 Wheat. 363; U. S. v. Taylor, 147 U. S. 703, 13 Sup. Ct. 479), we think it is sufficient reply to say that the said recognizances were given involuntarily and under duress of imprisonment, and for the purpose of securing liberty.
The waiver or estoppel claimed as resulting from the proceedings in the district court, as set forth in the plea and denied by the replication, presents a more difficult matter. The plea charges that the appearance, arraignment, trial, and discharge on a plea of not guilty, of John L. Moore, under.the name of L. L. L. Moore, before the, United States district court for the Southern district of Mississippi, appears by the record. The record of that court imports verity, and, if it shows the matters charged in the plea, then such matters are to be taken as indisputably true. If the replication to this part *977of the plea can be taken as, in substance, a plea of nul tiel record, then it seems clear that the replication to the third plea, which we have been considering, was in all respects sufficient. The court below, however, sustained a demurrer to said replication, setting1 up that it was insufficient in law, assuming to contradict, modify, and correct by parol the records of the court, and scandalous and impertinent. This ruling is assigned as error, but the view we take of the next assignment dispenses with a ruling thereon. Driven to again attempt to answer the third plea, the plaintiffs’ usee filed an answer denying there was any such record. Upon hearing the issue made by this answer, the court below, upon inspection of the record, found that the third plea was true in fact, and that such record existed. The record exhibited found in the bill of exceptions shows an indictment against L. L. L. Moore, duly found, and this entry:
“And on the 8th day of November, 1894, there was entered in said case a verdict and judgment in the words and figures following, to wit:
“ ‘United States vs. L. L. L. Moore. B. L. D. 1,830.
“ ‘Game the United States attorney and also the defendant in open court, who, being arraigned, pleaded not guilty as charged in the indictment. There, upon came a jury of good and lawful men, to wit, N. W. Bankston and eleven others, who being elected, impaneled, charged, and sworn upon their oaths sajjj “Wo, the jury, find the defendant not guilty.” Thereupon the defendants were discharged.’ H. 0. Niles, Judge, etc.”
Inserted in the alleged record, and claimed to he a part thereof, appeal- the proceedings had in which the said John L. Moore entered into certain recognizances before a commissioner of the circuit court, as set forth in the said third plea. As remarked before herein, said recognizances were matters in pais, and in our opinion form no part of the record in the case; but, whether they do or do not, we are clearly of opinion that the finding of the court that the plea was supported by the record is erroneous. The gist of the plea is that John L. Moore, under the name of L. L. L. Moore, appeared in the United Htates district court for the Southern district of Mississippi, and was there arraigned, and pleaded not guilty, and was tried on the. merits. The record shows that L. L. L. Moore appeared, was arraigned, tried, and discharged. The whole theory of the plaintiffs in the court below was based on the fact that L. L. L. Moore was indicted, that a capias issued against said L. L. L. Moore, and that thereunder the marshal falsely arrested said John L. Moore. A record which shows that L. L. L. Moore was indicted, arraigned,tried,and acquitted has no hearing whatever upon the question whether John L. Moore was arrested and imprisoned under a capias commanding the arrest of L. L. L. Moore. If we éliminate from the alleged record the matter inserted, and which properly forms no part thereof, then we have a record in which John L. Moore, plaintiffs’ usee, is not even mentioned.
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the case remanded, with instructions to enter a judgment: for the plaintiffs on the answer of nul tiel record to the defendants’ third plea, and thereafter proceed in said cause according to law and the views expressed in this opinion,