Wood v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
Appeal from the Circiiit Court of Grenada County. Hon. Samuel Powell, Judge. John Wood was indicted for, and convicted of, the crime of buggery.
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Appeal from the Circiiit Court of Grenada County. Hon. Samuel Powell, Judge. John Wood was indicted for, and convicted of, the crime of buggery. He appealed to this court, and assigned for error, (1) that the court below refused to permit his witnesses — his father, mother, and others intimately acquainted with him — to give in evidence their opinions to the effect that he was imbecile and idiotic ; and (2) that the court declined to grant the motion for a new trial'. 1. The court erred in excluding from the jury the opinions, based on observation and long acquaintance, of the several…
1Opinion of the CourtChalmers, C. J.
The opinions of non-experts as to the sanitj7 or insanity of persons with whom they are acquainted is receivable in evidence. Their opinions are not receivable in answer to hypothetical questions, or upon statements of facts deposed to by other witnesses. This is the province of experts only. Whether a man is sane or not, is always more or less a matter of opinion; and while insanity, in some cases, is so well developed as to admit of no doubt, it can never be regarded as standing upon the same footing as the happening of a physical fact, like birth, or death, or presence, at or absence from…
2Cited by13 opinions
- Armstrong v. StateSupreme Court of Florida · 1892
- Burnett v. SmithMississippi Supreme Court · 1908
- McGarrh v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1963
- Hickey v. ANDERSONMississippi Supreme Court · 1951
- Williams v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1897
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