Kear v. State
Supreme Court of Arkansas
Appeal from Sebastian Circuit Court; Daniel Hon, Judge; STATEMENT BY THE COURT. Appellant, a boy little over thirteen and a half years old, shot and killed a negro boy about the same age. They lived on adjoining farms. Appellant was convicted of murder in the second degree, his punishment was fixed at five years in the penitentiary, and he appeals. The killing was done sometime early in the morning, and the sheriff arrested appellant about one o’clock p. m.
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Appeal from Sebastian Circuit Court; Daniel Hon, Judge; STATEMENT BY THE COURT. Appellant, a boy little over thirteen and a half years old, shot and killed a negro boy about the same age. They lived on adjoining farms. Appellant was convicted of murder in the second degree, his punishment was fixed at five years in the penitentiary, and he appeals. The killing was done sometime early in the morning, and the sheriff arrested appellant about one o’clock p. m. When the sheriff first arrested appellant, he denied doing the killing. Then, after his father said to the sheriff: “You need not ask the…
1Opinion of the Court
Wood, J.,
(after stating the facts.) In Harrison v. State, 72 Ark. 117, we said:
“The law presumed that a boy thirteen years of age is incapable of committing a crime, and it devolved on the State to show that he had mental capacity and intelligence enough to know right from wrong in reference to the offense with which he was charged. In this the State failed, and the presumption of his incapacity, in the absence of such proof, must prevail. In Dove v. State, 37 Ark. 261, it is said that ‘when the accused is between the ages of 12 and 14, the common-law presumption still prevails that he or she…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- Dove v. StateSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1881
- Harrison v. StateSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1904
3Cited by1 opinion
- Little v. StateSupreme Court of Arkansas · 1977