Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 298, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 December 1916 — JUDGE QUASHED STOCKTON INDICEMENT [ARTICLE]

JUDGE QUASHED STOCKTON INDICEMENT

After Empanelling Jury and Hearing Part of Evidence Judge Wason Throws Case Out of Court. • * / \ The case of the State vs. Stockton came, to a Very abrupt end when Judge Wason, after b ear i n ß a P° r " tion of the evidence, threw himself back in his large arm chair and am nounced tlmt he would take the case from the jury and quash the indictment. This action was a complete surprise as the attorneys on both sides were convinced that the court was satisfied with his decision that the affidavit was good. There had been much contention by the attorneys on .each side in reference to the affidavit. The attorneys foAthe state, H. T. Brockway, E. B. Setters, and Sills & Sills, sos Monticello; George Williams, Moses Leopold, Charles M. Sands and William H. Pdrkinson, of this* city, contended that the indictment was perfectly good. The attorneys for the defense, Abraham Halleck, of this city; Palmer Carr, of Monticello, and W. W. Lowry, of Indianapolis, insisted that the affidavit was not good. We quote the following from an attorney for the state: « "The court held the indictment defective for the reason that it alleged that the field examiners who held the investigation were appointed by the. State Board of Accounts, when as a matter of law they’are appointed by the state examiners. This the court held at first did not affect the sufficiency of the indictment, as it was not deesriptive of the offense charged and should be treated as surplusage. The descrepancy between Barton Stout as used in the indictment one of ' the field examiners, and Berton Stout, his correct name, had nothing to do with the court’s action in sustaining the motion to quash. "One of the state’s attorneys informed the reporter for The Republican that the-action of the court does not end the procedings against Mr. Stockton, as a new indictment or affidavit will be filed in the Jasper circuit court at the February term, 1017, and the defendant forced to trial in this county, as he is not entitled to another change from this count;.” The following statement was furnished by an attorney for the defense: “The defendant, several days ago, in the White circuit court, filed a written motion to quash the indictment, which contained a number of ■ specific objections, together with the general objections provided by the statute, r among which was the allegation that the indictment did not, state a criminal offense. This motion was overruled by the court several days before the hearing. “Upon the hearing the jury was impanelled and Sworn to try the cause, and two witnesses were sworn and testified, one, Mr. Winters, the deputy examiner, and Berton Stout, the field examiner who administered the oath in the hearing before the accountants. “The evidence of these witnesses was mainly documentary. “The defense raised the objection 'that the indictment alleges that the i field examiners were appointed and employed by. the State Board of Accounts, law provides that they shall be appointed by. the State Examiner, and shall be responsible to and report to him only; whereas the State Board of Accounts is vomposed of th? State Examines, the Governor and the Auditor of State, any two of whom would constitute a ma- ' jority and could make the appointment. For this reason the defense

the Field Examiners was void. This objection of the defense was overruled by .the court, and the trial proceeded. Later the State offered in evidence the certificate jof appointment of Mr. Stout as a field examiner, and the defense objected because the indictment recites that Barton Stout administered the oath and the certificate of appointment was temperton Stout. The court at first overruled this objection, evidently under the impression at the time that the name in the indictntent was Barton Stout, and he remarked that the .words were iden sonans. “Afterward the court stepped down from the bench, and took the certificate in his hand and returned <to his seat. He then announced that the case was withdrawn from the jury and the jury discharged, having observed that the name on the certificate was Berton Stout instead of Barton Stout and not iden sonans when compared with the name in the indictment. Afterward the State stated that it intended to file a new prosecution for the same offense and requeued the court to require the defendant to elect whether he would be tried in such new action In the White Circuit Court of Indiana, or in the Jasper Circuit Court of Indiana, and the court made an order requiring the defendant to so elect. “The defendant, on the advice >f his counsel, who contend that he cannot again be tried fonasaid offense, refused to so elect, and entered into a recognition in the sum of SI,OOO, conditioned for his appearance before the Jasper Circuit Court on the first day of the February Term, 1917, and to abide the order of the court, and this was the end of the proceeding in, the White circuit court.” On the afternoon train, shortly after the case was disposed of, Elizur Sage and his wife alighted from the train, having made the trip from Redwood Falls, Minn., in order to be present and testify for the defense on the merits, in the event the case ..was tried out.