Court Opinion

ID: 9716475
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:40:53.346675+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:45.831910
License: Public Domain

Webber, J.,
Concurring
I concur fully in the opinion of the court. I note that in the dissenting opinion there is no suggestion that State v. *176Inness, 53 Me. 536, has been overruled and no effort is made to distinguish it from the case at bar. I am satisfied that it controls the situation now before us. There, as here, the State filed a demurrer to a dilatory plea in bar. There, as here, the demurrer was sustained and the respondent took exceptions. There, as here, there was a proper order to plead over which was ignored by the respondent. There, as here, there was no adjudication of guilt or imposition of sentence by the court below. Yet the mandate in Inness was “Exceptions overruled. Judgment final for the State.” I take the latter portion of the mandate to be directory to the court below and pursuant to that mandate the respondent was to be adjudged guilty without further hearing, and sentenced. This summary action logically follows the waiver by the respondent of his right to plead over and have trial upon the merits as Inness clearly indicates.
The opinion in Stowell v. Hooper, 121 Me. 152, relied upon in the dissenting opinion, makes it clear that Inness is distinguished rather than overruled. The distinguishing feature emphasized by Stowell was the failure of the court in that case to order the party offering the dilatory plea to plead over. The court said at page 154: “In the instant case there was no direction to plead anew. The presiding Justice in effect sustained the demurrer. Judgment that the defendant answer further should have, but did not follow.” (Emphasis supplied.) The opinion reasons that the error being that of the court rather than of the party, the party cannot thereby be charged with waiver. However, the court recognized that waiver can and does arise from failure to respond to the order to plead over, but pointed out that it does not arise from the mere taking of exceptions. Whether Stowell is in all its aspects well reasoned is not in issue here. The important consideration is that it does not alter the rule in Inness and leaves Inness controlling of the situation which must here be decided.