State v. . Vann

The prisoner was indicted for the murder of James H. Gatling, and tried and convicted in the superior court of Hertford, and on the trial he made several exceptions, which we will consider in their proper order.

1. When the jury were being formed, a juror was called and passed by the state without objection, and on being challenged by the prisoner, he said he had not formed and expressed an opinion as to the prisoner’s guilt, but that he believed him insane at the time the homicide was committed, and that belief was so firmly fixed that no evidence could remove it. Thereupon the state was…