Commonwealth v. Hackett
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment for the murder of Henry Gillen. At the trial in this court, evidence was offered by the government tending to show that the defendant suddenly approached the deceased in the night, and stabbed him in two places in the abdomen, and immediately ran away; and that the deceased died nineteen days thereafter. At the moment when the stabs were inflicted, Gillen cried out “I’m stabbed.”
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Indictment for the murder of Henry Gillen. At the trial in this court, evidence was offered by the government tending to show that the defendant suddenly approached the deceased in the night, and stabbed him in two places in the abdomen, and immediately ran away; and that the deceased died nineteen days thereafter. At the moment when the stabs were inflicted, Gillen cried out “I’m stabbed.” John Butler a witness for the Commonwealth, testified that he heard these words, and at once went to Gillen, and reached him within twenty seconds after the exclamation was made, and was the first person…
1Opinion of the CourtBigelow, C. J.
The court have given to this case the most careful and deliberate consideration, not only on account of the very grave nature of the charge of which the defendant has been found guilty, but also because the exceptions taken at the trial have been urged by the learned counsel for the prisoner with great earnestness and apparent confidence.
The objection to the admission in evidence of the declarations *139of the deceased, made immediately after the infliction of the alleged mortal blows, is put on the ground that it was a mere narration of a past event, uttered in the absence of the defendant, and…
2Cited by6 opinions
- People v. FowlerCalifornia Supreme Court · 1918
- Sullivan v. StateNebraska Supreme Court · 1899
- State v. BlockSupreme Court of Connecticut · 1913
- Durkee v. Central Pacific RailroadCalifornia Supreme Court · 1885
- Pueblo v. TiloSupreme Court of Puerto Rico · 1947
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