Court Opinion

ID: 9764381
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:20:10.986226+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:56.140422
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing or to Transfer Cause to Court en Banc
PER CURIAM.
Appellant has filed a Motion for Rehearing or To Transfer The Cause to The Court En Banc.
Appellant breached the conditions of his bond on March 30, 1960, and this breach is established by the recital of .record on-said date reading: “Defendant fails to appear.” Appellant’s motion to dismiss was filed and argued on said March 30. Thereafter, April 6, the court again found that appellant failed to appear on March 30, and also found that the information was insufficient; ordered that appellant’s recognizance be forfeited and a writ of scire facias issue to show cause why final judgment of forfeiture should not be entered; and, also, that appellant’s motion to dismiss be sustained and appellant discharged. Then, on April IS, 1960, the interlocutory judgment of forfeiture of April 6 was made final and absolute. Appellant says this judgment of April IS, 1960, was of no force and effect because the court lost jurisdiction over appellant upon his discharge on April 6.
Appellant’s position might be well taken if the bail forfeiture proceeding be a pai't of or a continuation of the criminal case.
“A bail bond is a contract between the government, on the one side, and the principal and sureties, on the other.” 6 Am.Jur. (Rev.Ed.) 89, § 61. A scire facias proceeding to enforce the forfeiture of a bail bond in a criminal case is not a continuation of the criminal case (State v. Haverstick, Mo., 326 S.W.2d 92, 96, 97), but is “a civil action, because the bond was the result of a contract and in no sense involved a crime” (State v. Gross, Banc, 306 Mo. 1, 2, 275 S.W. 769).
State v. Haverstick, supra, 326 S.W.2d 95, 96, points out certain defenses available in Missouri in scire facias proceedings for the forfeiture of bail bonds, as well as certain defenses not available in such proceedings, and among the defenses not available are the insufficiency or the invalidity of an information or indictment, including its failure to inform the accused of the nature and cause of the accusation against him. State v. Livingston, 117 Mo. 627, 23 S.W. 766; State v. Boehm, 184 Mo. 201, 204, 83 S.W. 477, 478, quoting authority. See also State v. Hoeffner, 68 Mo.App. 164.
*856Appellant’s bond was conditioned, in part, that he appear in court to answer said charge on February 1, 1960, "not thence to depart without leave," and from time to time thereafter as required throughout the pendency of this action, for trial and all other proceedings therein, including final judgment and sentence. This conformed with Sup.Ct. Rule 32.05, V.A.M.R.
“ ‘The breach of the bond takes place when the defendant fails to report in court as required and the court enters that fact of record.’ ” State v. Haverstick, Mo., 326 S.W.2d 92, 97. This is in accord with § 544.640, reading: “If, without sufficient cause or excuse, the defendant fails to appear for trial or judgment, or upon any other occasion when his presence in court may be lawfully required, according to the condition of his recognizance, the court must direct the fact to be entered upon its minutes, and thereupon the recognizance is forfeited * * State v. Holtdorf, 61 Mo.App. 515, 520, after quoting the foregoing, states: “There is nothing in the foregoing section imposing on the court the duty of having either the accused or his bondsmen called. If the former fails to appear, and no sufficient cause or excuse is offered for his absence, it becomes the duty of the court to direct the default to be entered on its minutes, and the recognizance becomes immediately forfeited.” Under the above authorities appellant breached his hail bond when he failed to appear on March 30, 1960; and said bond stood forfeited when the court made its entry of that fact on said date.
In McKensie v. Missouri Pacific Ry. Co., 24 Mo.App. 392, 395, the court quashed the indictments and discharged the accused but on the following day overruled a motion to discharge defendant and his sureties. No breach of defendant’s bond was entered of record, and thus no reason existed for overruling said motion.
Missouri law may differ from that of some states. If scire facias proceedings are civil actions and not continuations of the criminal case, an accused has no right to decide for himself that he is entitled to a discharge although later that adjudication is made. Would appellant have been absolved of his breach of March 30 of his contract with the State had he appeared on April 6 and the court then ordered scire facias to show cause why a final judgment of forfeiture should not be entered and thereafter on said April 6 or later appellant had stood trial and was acquitted? We think not if courts are to continue to function in the administration of justice without delay. Appellant’s breach of his bond was separate and distinct from any offense he might have committed, the insufficiency of an information attempting to charge the offense, or his acquittal thereof. His discharge and the loss of jurisdiction over him in the criminal proceedings should not divest the court of jurisdiction over the subject matter of the prior breach of his bond. To hold otherwise “ ‘is to substitute cause for effect; a ground of discharge for the actual discharge; a reason for absolving him from the recognizance for the absolution itself.’ ” Commonwealth v. Teevens, 143 Mass. 210, 9 N.E. 524, 525, 58 Am.Rep. 131. Appellant should have awaited the ruling of the court on his motion to quash.
Appellant’s motion should be and is overruled on the presentation made.
The foregoing PER CURIAM opinion on motion for rehearing is adopted as the opinion of the court en Banc.