State v. Babcock
Supreme Court of Connecticut
AFTER a verdict of guilty on an indictment for murder, the prisoner moved in arrest of judgment on the following grounds. 1. That one of the jurors was not, at the time of empannelling the jury, nor at the time of giving their verdict, a freeholder ; which fact was unknown to the prisoner, or his counsel, at the time of the trial. 2. That the jury were not, after the cause was committed to them, confined under the custody of an officer appointed by the court until they had…
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AFTER a verdict of guilty on an indictment for murder, the prisoner moved in arrest of judgment on the following grounds. 1. That one of the jurors was not, at the time of empannelling the jury, nor at the time of giving their verdict, a freeholder ; which fact was unknown to the prisoner, or his counsel, at the time of the trial. 2. That the jury were not, after the cause was committed to them, confined under the custody of an officer appointed by the court until they had agreed on a verdict, but were immediately permitted to separate, and go to their respective places of abode, and did not…
1Opinion of the Court
Swift, Ch. J.
The statute of the state(a) makes it an indispensable requisite that jurors should be freeholders, and by the common law such deficiency in the qualification of a juror discovered after verdict, is a sufficient ground of arrest. Though this defect does not affect the capacity or moral qualification of a juror, and is strictly technical; yet the law is too positive to be dispensed with ; and in a criminal case of a capital nature, it cannot be inthat the party intended to waive any ad vantage or privilege given him by law.
As to the objection that the jury, after the cause was…
2Cited by26 opinions
- State v. GreerWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1883
- Stephens v. . the PeopleNew York Court of Appeals · 1859
- Wassum v. FeeneyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1876
- Bilansky v. StateSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1859
- Reins v. PeopleIllinois Supreme Court · 1863
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