Willis v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
Appeal from the circuit court of Jones county. HoN. Paul B. Johnson, Judge. Oscar Willis was convicted of assault with intent to kill and appeals. The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court. Does this indictment charge any offense as it stands ■without supplying any word? No one, no court has ever, or will ever, contend that it does and it could make no difference whether the omission was by mistake or design.
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Appeal from the circuit court of Jones county. HoN. Paul B. Johnson, Judge. Oscar Willis was convicted of assault with intent to kill and appeals. The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court. Does this indictment charge any offense as it stands ■without supplying any word? No one, no court has ever, or will ever, contend that it does and it could make no difference whether the omission was by mistake or design. And it is not, as contended, a grammatical error —it is one of the substance. Then if something is to be supplied who is to determine what that shall be? Shall it be one…
1DissentHoldeN, J.
In dissenting from the majority opinion in this case I desire to record my views briefly. I realize that my dissent is contrary to the rule in this state as announced in Cook v. State, 72 Miss. 517, 17 So. 228, which decision was followed by this court in two other cases. But I believe that the decision in the Cook Case is wrong, as the defect in the indictment there leaving out the word “did” was a mere clerical error, inadvertently made, and was not a substantial defect, nor an integral part of the indictment, such as would make the indictment void. However, it will be noticed that the…
2Cases cited20 opinions
- Smith v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 1907
- Caples v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma · 1909
- Jones v. United StatesCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit · 1908
- Dickens v. StateSupreme Court of Florida · 1905
- State v. McAninchSupreme Court of Iowa · 1915
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