Riley v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
Appeal from the circuit court of Leake county. Hon. C. L. Dodds, Judge. Ben Riley was convicted of murder and appeals. Reversed, and defendant discharged.
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Appeal from the circuit court of Leake county. Hon. C. L. Dodds, Judge. Ben Riley was convicted of murder and appeals. Reversed, and defendant discharged. The error that we shall notice is the instruction of the state No. 1. “The court instructs the jury for the state that the law presumes malice from the deliberate and unlawful use of a deadly weapon whereby life is taken and this presumption of law will prevail unless overthrown by the facts and circumstances in evidence, marked ‘ ‘ Given. ’ ’ This instruction should not have been given (1) because there is no competent evidence to show…
1Opinion of the CourtCook, J.
Appellant was convicted upon an indictment charging him with murder, and was sentenced to the penitentiary for life. Defendant is a negro, and the deceased was a white, man. There were two trials of this case. The first trial resulted in a mistrial.
The evidence for the state shows that, on the day next preceding the day of the homicide, deceased and defendant had a conversation about some “confusion” (a negro term) between them, when deceased said to defendant:
“Ben, I want you to go with me to straighten up those lies that you have been telling on me. If you don’t go, somebody will get a…
2Cited by7 opinions
- McGowan v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1989
- Johnson v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1925
- Johnson v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1955
- Talbert v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1935
- Hendrieth v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1970
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