Patterson v. State

CARR, Presiding Judge.

On an indictment charging murder in the first degree, the indictee was convicted of the lesser offense of murder in the second degree.

At the inception of the trial proceedings the solicitor questioned the sheriff concerning the reasons for the absence of several of the jurors. This inquiry established that seven of the jurors who were summoned resided out of the county; one lived out of the state; one was dead; two were in the armed forces; and one resided in the Enterprise Division of the Circuit Court of Coffee County.

On the basis of these disclosures appellant’s…