{"id":13422,"date":"2018-02-09T00:46:06","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T00:46:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13422"},"modified":"2018-02-09T01:33:13","modified_gmt":"2018-02-09T01:33:13","slug":"standing-mute-to-remain-silent-when-required-to-enter-a-plea-the-equivalent-of-a-not-guilty-plea","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=13422","title":{"rendered":"Standing Mute – to remain silent when required to enter a plea; the equivalent of a “not guilty” plea"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This page is continued from Criminal Law Self-Help<\/a> >>>> Types of Pleas<\/em> and Pleadings<\/em><\/a> >>>> Types of Pleas (criminal law)<\/a>:<\/span>
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stand mute<\/span>:<\/span><\/strong><\/span>
\n(16c)<\/span><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Criminal law<\/em>. (Of a defendant) to refuse to enter a plea<\/a> to a criminal charge; especially, to remain silent when required to answer and plead.\u00a0<\/strong> *\u00a0 Standing mute is treated as a plea of not guilty.<\/strong>\u00a0 [1]
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standing mute<\/span>:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1. An accused in a criminal case refusing to plead. 21 Am J2d Crim L \u00a7 462<\/span>.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The equivalent of a plea of not guilty. Anno: 58 ALR 79, s. 82 ALR 369, 116 ALR 231<\/span>.<\/strong> [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The act of a defendant in a criminal case who refused to enter a plea<\/a>.\u00a0 The court will enter a plea of not guilty on behalf of a defendant who stands mute.<\/strong> [3]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Harold Greville Hanbury’s<\/span> English Courts of Law<\/em><\/a> (1944):<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cA candid historian cannot pretend that our criminal law and procedure has been at all times humane.\u00a0 Torture was, except in one particular, the monopoly of the Court of Star Chamber, but one form of torture was well known at common law.\u00a0 It arose out of the rule that a prisoner could not be tried by a jury without his consent.\u00a0 If, therefore, an accused person would not plead, but elected to \u2018stand mute,\u2019 the trial could not proceed.\u00a0 But the law would not suffer itself to be thus baffled without a terrible struggle.\u00a0 A statute of 1275 authorized the use of the \u2018peine forte et dure<\/em>\u2019 to extort consent.\u00a0 This consisted in pressing the accused beneath heavy weights until he consented or died.\u00a0 The reason why persons would choose to suffer these appalling agonies rather than plead was that thus they would <\/span>avoid the forfeiture of property which would, until its abolition in 1870, follow a conviction for treason or felony.\u00a0 In 1772 the barbarity that had so long disfigured the law was ended by an enactment that standing mute in cases of felony should be equivalent to a conviction.\u00a0 In 1827 the law was again altered, and it was provided that, if the prisoner, in any criminal case, stands mute, a plea of not guilty shall be entered, and the trial shall proceed as if he had thus pleaded.<\/span>“<\/strong> [4]<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. (Of any party) to raise no objections; especially, to refrain from answering or responding to a motion, so that the <\/strong>court must decide the matter solely on the movant\u2019s arguments.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

peine forte et dure <\/em><\/span>–<\/strong> [French \u201cstrong and hard punishment\u201d] (18c) Hist<\/em>. The punishment of an alleged felon who refused to plead, consisting of pressing or crushing the person\u2019s body under heavy weights until the accused either pleaded or died.<\/strong> [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A cruel and relentless punishment: \u2014 the torturing punishment which was anciently inflicted on a defendant accused of felony who refused to plead, as a penalty for the obstinacy. State v Woodward<\/em>, 68 W Va 66, 69 SE 385, 4 Bl Comm 325.\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014 aka paine forte et dure<\/strong><\/em><\/span>. [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from <\/span>Joseph Chitty’s<\/span> A Practical Treatise on the Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> (2d ed. 1826):<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIn all other felonies, however, the punishment of peine forte et dure<\/em> was, until lately, denounced as the consequence of an obstinate silence.\u00a0 The greatest caution and deliberation were indeed t<\/span><\/strong>o be exercised before it was resorted to; and the prisoner was not only to have \u2018trina admonitio<\/em>,\u2019 but a respite of a few hours, and the sentence was to be distinctly read to him, that he might be fully aware of the penalty he was incurring.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [5]
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Glanville Williams’<\/span> The Sanctity of Life and the Criminal Law<\/em><\/a> (1957):<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIn old English law, a person charged with felony who, refusing to accept jury trial, was pressed to death (peine forte et dure<\/em>), was not regarded as committing suicide, so that he did not forfeit his property.<\/span>\u201d<\/strong> [6]<\/span><\/p>\n

mute<\/strong><\/span>:<\/span>
\nn<\/em>. (17c)<\/span><\/p>\n

1. A person (especially a prisoner) who stands silent when required to answer or plead.\u00a0 *\u00a0 Formerly, if a prisoner stood mute, a jury was empaneled to determine whether the prisoner was intentionally mute or mute by an act of God.\u00a0 By the Criminal Law Act of 1827 (7 & 8 Geo. 4, ch. 28), if a prisoner was mute by malice, the officer automatically entered a plead of not guilty and the trial proceeded.\u00a0 If adjudicated to be insane, the prisoner was kept in custody until the Crown determined what should be done.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n