Lacks v. Commonwealth

The accused, Henno Lacks, was convicted in the Circuit Court of Mecklenburg County on the 21st day of April, 1943, under the maiming statute, (Michie’s Code 1942, sec. 4402), and his punishment fixed at five years in the penitentiary.

When the case was called'for trial in the lower court the accused, by counsel, moved for a continuance upon the ground of the absence of three material witnesses, two of whom had been duly summoned. A summons had been issued for the third witness, but the officer had been unable to execute it. Bertha Lacks, one of the witnesses who had been duly summoned, sent a…