Opinion
Appeal from the District Court of the Sixth Judicial District.
The defendant was indicted on the 17th of June, 1856, for the crime of murder, committed on the 22d day of March, 1856. He was tried on the 13th day of February, and convicted of the crime of manslaughter. Motion being made for arrest of judgment and overruled, defendant was sentenced to eighteen months' confinement in the State Prison, from which judgment this appeal was taken.
COUNSEL:
The only point in this case arises on the facts set out in the indictment.
It appears that the crime was committed on the 22d day of March, a. d. 1856. It also appears that the indictment was found in June, a. d. 1856.
In April, a. d. 1856, after the commission of the crime, and before the finding of the indictment, the law was changed, and there was no law authorizing the finding of the indictment, or trying and punishing the defendant under said indictment.
Curtis, Griffith & Robinson, for Appellant.
W. T. Wallace, Attorney-General, for Respondents.
It is contended that thereis no law in force for the punishment of manslaughter. It will be borne in mind that the offense was committed on the 22d day of March, 1856; on the 19th of April, 1856, the law was amended. (See Statutes of 1856, p. 219.) By the tenth section of that Act, it is provided that nothing contained therein " shall apply to the trial of persons indicted for offenses committed prior to the passage of the amended Act. In all such cases, the punishment shall be fixed in accordance with the laws heretofore existing." For the law in relation to the punishment of manslaughter, theretofore existing, see Compiled Laws, p. 641, Sec. 26.
JUDGES: Murray, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Burnett, J., concurring.
OPINION
MURRAY, Judge
The appellant was convicted of manslaughter. The offense was committed on the 22d day of March, 1856. On the 19th of April, 1856, the Act concerning crimes and punishments was amended, and the punishment for various crimes was altered.
It is now contended that there is no law by which the prisoner can be punished. If the old law had been repealed and no provision made for past offenses, then, undoubtedly, he would have to be discharged; but the tenth section of the Act of 1856, contains a saving clause, to the effect that nothing contained therein " shall apply to the trial of persons indicted for offenses committed prior to the amended Act. In all such cases, the punishment shall be fixed in accordance with the laws heretofore existing."
The appellant was indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced, under the old law. The judgment is regular, and must be affirmed.