Davis v. State
Wisconsin Supreme Court
ERROR to the Circuit Court for Iowa County. The plaintiff in error was prosecuted to conviction before a justice of the peace for an assault and battery. He appealed to the circuit court, where he was again tried and found guilty by the jury. The return of the justice fails to show that he pleaded or refused to plead to the complaint in the justice’s court; and the record shows that he did not plead or refuse to plead thereto in the circuit court.
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ERROR to the Circuit Court for Iowa County. The plaintiff in error was prosecuted to conviction before a justice of the peace for an assault and battery. He appealed to the circuit court, where he was again tried and found guilty by the jury. The return of the justice fails to show that he pleaded or refused to plead to the complaint in the justice’s court; and the record shows that he did not plead or refuse to plead thereto in the circuit court. On the ground that he had never pleaded or been called upon to do so, and on other grounds which need not be stated, he moved in arrest of judgment…
1Opinion of the CourtLyon, J.
This case is ruled by that of Douglass v. The *488State, 3 Wis., 820, in which it was held that a verdict in a criminal case where there has been neither arraignment nor plea is a nullity, and no judgment can be rendered thereon. The learned attorney general concedes this to be so, unless (quoting his language),* “ 1. That decision should be held not applicable to a simple assault and battery; or 2. That error was cured by the order entering the plea nunc pro tunc; or 3. The statute of 1871, ch. 137, sec. 30, cures the defect. (Tay. Stats., 1942, § 17).”
In Douglass v. The State, the offense…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Douglass v. StateWisconsin Supreme Court · 1854
- State v. ColeWisconsin Supreme Court · 1865
3Cited by16 opinions
- Hack v. StateWisconsin Supreme Court · 1910
- Lanphere v. StateWisconsin Supreme Court · 1902
- Weaver v. StateIndiana Supreme Court · 1882
- French v. StateWisconsin Supreme Court · 1893
- State v. WaltonOregon Supreme Court · 1907
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