State v. MacFarland
Supreme Court of New Jersey
On error to the Essex Oyer and Terminer. This writ of error' brings up the conviction of Allison M. MacEarland of murder in the first degree. The jury found that the plaintiff in error willfully caused the death of his wife by placing a bottle of poison where she would take it by mistake and that she did so take it with fatal results.
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On error to the Essex Oyer and Terminer. This writ of error' brings up the conviction of Allison M. MacEarland of murder in the first degree. The jury found that the plaintiff in error willfully caused the death of his wife by placing a bottle of poison where she would take it by mistake and that she did so take it with fatal results. The conviction rests upon circumstantial evidence which, apart from eertain letters written to the defendant, consists chiefiy of statements made by him, first to the doctor whom he called in, then to the county physician and afterwards to the officers of the…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Garrison, J.
The letters were properly admitted in evidence. They were found in the possession of the defendant; they proved that the. declarations they contained had been communicated to him; they were sent to and received by him at different places, which shows intercommunication; they expressed the passionate love of the writer for the defendant, and her urgent desire to become his lawful wife. The defendant himself told a witness, who testified for the state, that the writer of these letters was a young lady in Philadelphia who lived next door to…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- State v. HowellSupreme Court of New Jersey · 1897
- Howell v. StateSupreme Court of New Jersey · 1898
3Cited by16 opinions
- Corens v. StateCourt of Appeals of Maryland · 1946
- State v. D'AdameSupreme Court of New Jersey · 1913
- Garnick v. SerewitchNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division · 1956
- State v. KobylarzNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division · 1957
- State v. MartinekNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division · 1951
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