State v. Nelson D. Peery

Two appeals involving a conviction for indecent exposure, one from an order of the municipal court of St. Paul vacating its prior order granting defendant a new trial, and the other from a subsequent order denying defendant's motion for a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence. August 13, 1946, defendant, then a student at Concordia College in St. Paul, was arrested without warrant and held without bail until August 16, 1946, when he was brought to trial in the municipal court of St. Paul on a ""tab charge"" of ""Indecent Exposure."" On the criminal register of that date the proceeding was entitled ""State vs. Nelson D. Peery."" Otherwise there is no indication whether defendant was tried for violating municipal ordinance paragraph 452, 1941 Compiled Ordinances of the City of St. Paul, or M.S.A. § 617.23, both of which relate to indecent exposure. The register further indicates that upon arraignment on that date defendant entered a plea of ""not guilty,"" and his trial proceeded forthwith; that some six witnesses were then called for the state, while defendant and one other witness testified on defendant's behalf; and that the court thereupon found defendant guilty and ordered him imprisoned in the workhouse of the city of St. Paul for a term of 90 days.