Court Opinion

ID: 3411393
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 19:29:16.181622+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:51:14.501466
License: Public Domain

The affidavit of appellant, which is not controverted as to the principal facts, states that following his arrest and prior to his arraignment and plea he was taken by the sheriff from the jail where he was being held awaiting trial, into the country and was seized by a mob, blindfolded and hanged, after which he was let down and required by the mob to give information about the commission of the alleged crime and the whereabouts of his alleged accomplice, in the nature of a confession of guilt; that when he was brought before the trial court and *Page 605 
stated that he was without means with which to employ counsel to represent him the court appointed counsel to do so, and such counsel advised him that public sentiment in the community was so high against him that if he entered a plea of not guilty and stood trial he would more than likely be given the death penalty, but that if he entered a plea of guilty the judge would not have authority to impose the death penalty upon him; and that when he entered a plea of guilty the judge did ask him if he realized that the death sentence might be pronounced against him on such plea and that he was so frightened he did not answer but relied upon the advice of counsel which the state had furnished him, and believed that the confession which the mob had extorted from him could be used if he stood trial, and so allowed the plea of guilty to stand, but that had he believed the judge had authority to sentence him to death upon his plea of guilty he would not have entered such plea.
The plea of guilty was entered on the 11th of September, 1923, and the judgment of the court that appellant should suffer the death penalty was entered on the 15th of September thereafter. Upon securing additional counsel appellant, on October 8, 1923, moved that the judgment be vacated and that he be permitted to withdraw his plea of guilty and enter a plea of not guilty, which motion was denied.
The right of those accused of crime to a jury trial extends to the guilty as well as to the innocent, and in some jurisdictions human life cannot be taken by sanction of law without the verdict of a jury. In states not having such a provision I think the instances are comparatively rare where upon a plea of guilty the death penalty has been inflicted. It was recently stated upon credible authority that in one of the older jurisdictions, in more than 300 pleas of guilty of murder entered, only one person was executed upon such a plea, indicating the reluctance of courts to impose the death penalty except upon the verdict of guilty by a jury.
An application to withdraw a plea of guilty in a capital case should be allowed where such application is made soon *Page 606 
after the entry of the plea, and where it further appears that a confession of guilt was obtained by unlawful means and the plea of guilty has been made in the belief that such confession would be used against the accused if he stood trial, and all the other facts and circumstances were such as to induce a plea of guilty that might not otherwise have been made. This is more nearly in harmony with the humane policy of the law that human life will not be taken for the commission of crime unless all the usual and ordinary safeguards with which the law surrounds an accused person have been scrupulously complied with.
The United States supreme court, speaking through Mr. Justice Harlan, in Hopt v. Utah, 110 U.S. 574, 4 Sup. Ct. 202,28 L.ed. 262, said:
"The natural life, says Blackstone, 'cannot legally be disposed of or destroyed by any individual, neither by the person himself nor by any other of his fellow creatures, merely upon their own authority.' 1 Bl. Com. 133. The public has an interest in his life and liberty. Neither can be lawfully taken except in the mode prescribed by law. That which the law makes essential in proceedings involving the deprivation of life or liberty cannot be dispensed with or affected by the consent of the accused; much less by his mere failure, when on trial and in custody, to object to unauthorized methods. The great end of punishment is not the expiation or atonement of the offense committed, but the prevention of future offenses of the same kind. 4 Bl. Com. 11."
I am also of the opinion that the information in this case is fatally defective in that it does not comply with C. S., sec. 8827, and fails to be direct and certain as to the offense charged. Appellant's counsel say they are unable to find any authority or precedent that sustains the sufficiency of this information, and I think none can be found. It is beside the question to say that because appellant understands he is being charged with murder the information is therefore sufficient within the requirements of the law. He understood the nature of the charge when he was being hanged *Page 607 
by the mob, but that did not obviate the necessity of filing a formal charge as required by law, in the trial court. The information itself is a sufficient and conclusive answer to the claim that this has been done.
Entirely aside from any question as to the guilt of this appellant there should be no appearance of the courts approving or countenancing in any degree some of the proceedings resorted to by which this plea of guilty was probably obtained. I think a refusal to allow its withdrawal may be reasonably construed as a condonation of such unlawful acts. The language of the supreme court of Nebraska, in Reynolds v. State, 58 Neb. 49,78 N.W. 483, seems to me peculiarly appropriate to the situation here, wherein it is said:
"It has been suggested, and is doubtless true, that in this case 'outraged justice has laid her avenging lash on the back of one who honestly deserves the scourge,' but we cannot for that reason alone affirm the judgment. The jurisdiction of the courts is not co-ordinate with that of the mob."
Petition for rehearing denied.