Court Opinion

ID: 9603169
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:03:51.895136+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:09.124336
License: Public Domain

RAPER, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent.
The majority has unnecessarily burdened the judicial system searching for error over which the interested litigants have expressed no concern.
There is nothing in the record to indicate that the formal judgments are not present in the files of the municipal and district courts and the appeals not timely taken. This court has repeatedly said that it will not consider an appeal matter upon which the record is silent. Elmer v. State, Wyo. 1970, 466 P.2d 375, cert. den. 400 U.S. 845, 91 S.Ct. 90, 27 L.Ed.2d 82; Mountain Fuel Supply Company v. Emerson, Wyo. 1978, 578 P.2d 1351. An appellate court cannot be expected to prosecute an independent investigation looking for errors upon which a party may possibly rely. This court ought not to be called upon to do the work the *88parties are requested to do. Wyuta Cattle Co. v. Connell, 1931, 43 Wyo. 135, 155, 299 P. 279, reh. den. 3 P.2d 101. We cannot assume that there was error on the basis of something not appearing in the record.
If the record discloses a want of jurisdiction, even though the parties have not raised the question, the court is duty bound to dismiss the appeal, Wyoming State Treasurer, ex rel. Workmen’s Compensation Department v. Niezwaag, Wyo. 1968, 444 P.2d 327. But the record here does not disclose a want of jurisdiction. It is mute in that regard.
There is a presumption of the regularity of proceedings in such a case. Ordinarily it will be presumed that all steps necessary to bring the case into the appellate court were regularly and properly taken. 24A C.J.S. Criminal Law §§ 1849-1860; «=1144, Criminal Law, West’s Digest System. The record is adequate for the purposes of this appeal. We could add to the above an ancient equitable axiom: That is considered done which should have been done.
The majority chooses to overlook the proposition that we are in this case dealing with the district court as an intermediate court of appeals. This court, in Hudson Coal Company v. Hauf, 1910, 18 Wyo. 425, 109 P. 21, established the rule that where a case is taken to an intermediate appellate court and judgment is affirmed and the case is then taken to a court of last resort, the only questions that can be considered are those presented to the intermediate appellate court, “[t]hat is, the Supreme Court will only determine whether or not the intermediate appellate court erred in its decision on the record presented to it.” See also, ⅞=>1082(2), Appeal and Error, West’s Digest System. Neither the city attorney nor the defendant nor the court raised any question other than whether or not the defendant was entitled to a trial by jury. The recorder tape, by which the proceedings in the municipal court were kept, clearly shows that the municipal judge found defendant guilty and fined him $100. Additionally the electronic tape discloses that the defendant was required to post an appeal bond — “a hundred dollars in cash and that will be paid at the police window.” The city attorney raised no question with respect to service of a notice of appeal and the district judge was apparently satisfied with what he had before him in order to reach the only issue to be decided. This court has no business worrying about that question if it was not raised in and considered by the district court. Redman v. Union Pacific Ry. Co., 1892, 3 Wyo. 678, 29 P. 88.
It is obvious that the city attorney appeared in the district court and made a timely filing of a brief in this court, so he must have had notice of some sort. The purpose of notice is to permit a party to be heard. The city makes no complaint that it had no timely notice or was denied an opportunity to be heard. It concerns me that this court should concern itself about such de minimus matters.
If upon remand it should be disclosed that there is no formal judgment and sentence of the municipal judge and there is no formal judgment of the district court to carry out its decision to affirm the judgment of the municipal judge and correction is made by preparation of such judgments, as I understand the majority’s decision to mean, the defendant’s interests must likewise be protected and he must be permitted to file timely notices of appeal to those new documents. He should not be led into a trap of premature notice of appeal which could well be created by the principles of Jackson v. State, Wyo. 1976, 547 P.2d 1203. If the judgments are already existing and present but not forwarded, then we must, of course, consider them with respect to the notices of appeal in the light of our precedent.
I would have considered the appeal on its merits and decided the only important question disclosed: Was the defendant entitled to a jury trial in the municipal court? It certainly cannot be said that the defendant has waived his fundamental rights to a jury trial and appeal because the administrators of the courts have failed to execute and include documents in a record. Waiver of a *89fundamental right cannot be assumed from a silent record. Barker v. Wingo, 1972, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101.