APPEAL AND ERROR — Failure to File Briefs — Affirmance — Rule of Court. When no counsel appears, and no briefs are filed, the court will examine the pleadings, the instructions of the court, and the exceptions taken thereto, and the judgment and sentence, and, if no prejudicial error appears, will affirm the judgment.

Appeal from District Court, Marshall County; Jesse M. Hatchett, Judge.

L.F. Southerland was convicted of rape in the second degree, and sentenced to serve a term of three and one-half years in the state penitentiary, and he appeals. Judgment affirmed.

Kennamer & Coakley, for plaintiff in error.

S.P. Freeling, Atty. Gen., and R. McMillan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

PER CURIAM. This is an appeal from a judgment of conviction of rape in the second degree, rendered in the district court of Marshall county on the 9th day of January, 1917, in which defendant was sentenced to serve a term of three and one-half years in the state penitentiary.

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A petition in error, with case-made attached, was filed in this court on the 7th day of July, 1917, and the cause was finally submitted at the November, 1918, term.

At the time the cause was submitted no counsel for the defendant appeared to orally argue same, and no brief has been filed in behalf of the defendant.

Pursuant to rule 9 of this court, we have examined the pleadings, instructions, judgment, and sentence, and have carefully considered the same in connection with the grounds of alleged error set forth in the petition.

We find no error prejudicial to the substantial rights of the defendant, and under the provisions of rule 9, the judgment is affirmed.