People v. More

Morrison, C. J. — On the ninth day of August, 1884, the district attorney filed in the Superior Court of Santa Barbara County, the following information against the defendant:—

[Title of Court.]

“The People of the State of California v. Alexander P. More.' — Information for manslaughter.

“Alexander P. More is accused by the district attorney of the said county of Santa Barbara, state of California, by this information, of the crime of manslaughter, committed as follows: The said Alexander P. More, on the twenty-ninth day of June, eighteen hundred and eighty-four, at and in the said county of Santa Barbara and state of California, and prior to the filing of this information, upon a sudden quarrel and in the heat of passion, did willfully, unlawfully, and feloniously kill one Ah You, a Chinaman, then and there being a living human being, contrary to the form, force, and effect of the statute in such cases made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the people of the state of California.

“John J. Boyce,

“District attorney of the said county of Santa Barbara, state of California.”

On this information was indorsed the names of the witnesses examined before the filing of the same.

The sufficiency of the information in form was not challenged in the court below, but a motion was made on behalf of the defendant to set the same aside on the following grounds, and for the following reasons:—

“ That the defendant before the filing of the information had not been legally committed by a magistrate for the offense for which he is informed against, or for any offense.

[502]“That the commitment of the defendant by the police judge of the city of Santa Barbara (if any commitment was in fact made) was and is illegal in the following particulars:—

“1. It does not appear from the evidence and depositions, upon which the defendant was committed, that the offense for which the defendant was committed, and with which he is charged, took place within the county of Santa Barbara, or that it was committed partly in said county and partly in any other county; or upon or within five hundred yards of the boundary line between any two counties. Or that the said offense, having been consummated within the county of Santa Barbara, if in fact it was consummated therein or elsewhere in this state, was commenced without the state of California, nor does it appear that such consummation was through the intervention of any agent of defendant, or any other means proceeding directly from the defendant.