Commonwealth v. Harris
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment, found and returned on November 22, 1917, ■charging that the defendant received an automobile knowing it theretofore to have been stolen.
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Indictment, found and returned on November 22, 1917, ■charging that the defendant received an automobile knowing it theretofore to have been stolen. The defendant filed a plea in abatement on the ground that, " while the grand jury was hearing, inquiring into, and examining the matter of the indictment, two police officers and other persons, not members of the grand jury and not authorized to be present, were present with the grand jury while it was so hearing, inquiring into, and examining said matter.” The Commonwealth traversed the allegations of the plea and, in lieu of a hearing on the…
1Opinion of the CourtPierce, J.
It was decided in Jones v. Robbins, 8 Gray, 329, that the clause in art. 12 of the Declaration of Rights which reads: “no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled, or deprived of his life, >liberty, or estate) but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land,” made an indictment or presentment of a grand jury essential to the validity of a conviction in cases of prosecution for felonies. In the opinion, delivered by Chief Justice Shaw, the court adopts the conclusion of…
2Cases cited5 opinions
- State v. WetzelWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1914
- Commonwealth v. WoodwardMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1893
- Hartgraves v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma · 1911
- State v. BrewsterSupreme Court of Vermont · 1898
- Collier v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1913
3Cited by52 opinions
- Attorney General v. PelletierMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1922
- Attorney General v. TuftsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1921
- People v. BogdanoffNew York Court of Appeals · 1930
- Commonwealth v. GeaganMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1959
- Commonwealth v. SnowMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1930
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