Opinion
(July Term, 1815.)
When an indictment is found upon which the defendant is recognized to appear from term to term, and afterwards a nolle prosequi is entered upon a defect being discovered in the bill, the defendant will be liable to pay for the attendance of the witnesses the whole time, if a new bill be found against him for the same cause and he be convicted thereon.
At September Term, 1811, an indictment was found against defendant, and was continued from court to court until September Term, 1814, when a nol. pros. was entered in consequence of a defect in the bill, and a new bill was found against defendant for same offense, upon which he was tried and convicted.
Question for the Supreme Court: Is the defendant bound to pay the State's witnesses from the finding of the first bill until the nol. pros. was entered?
We think it very clear that the defendant is liable to pay the witnesses for the whole time of attendance. The charge of which he was convicted was the same upon which the witnesses attended, and though the indictment was altered in point of form, yet neither the defendant nor the witnesses were discharged during the time. The latter were subpoenaed or recognized to give evidence against him on a specific charge; they did so, and he was convicted.
Cited: S. v. Johnson, 50 N.C. 223.