Riley v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
Feom the circuit court of Marshall county. ITON. Z. M. STEPHENS, Judge. The facts aré sufficiently stated in the opinion.
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Feom the circuit court of Marshall county. ITON. Z. M. STEPHENS, Judge. The facts aré sufficiently stated in the opinion. The first instruction given for the state is certainly erroneous in telling the jury that they may, “if they [you] think it proper to do so, disregard the testimony of any witness, if, for any reason, they believe such testimony is untrue,” thereby telling the jury that they could make use of their personal knowledge of facts affecting the credibility of a witness not in evidence, and that they may capriciously do this, if, for ‘ ‘ any reason, ’ ’ they believe such…
1Opinion of the CourtWoods, C. J.
While the youth, Walter Stewart, testifies that he heard the word ‘‘ lie, ’ ’ spoken by the defendant to the deceased, and the words “damned lie,” spoken by the deceased to the.defendant, and that quickly thereafter he heard a blow, and, on looking, saw the deceased fall from his horse, yet it is apparent that he did not see the parties to the tragical occurrence at the moment when the blow which caused death was struck, and did not at that time see what the attitude and actions of defendant and deceased were. The only eyewitness, now alive, to the entire transaction was the defendant…
2Cited by2 opinions
- Waldrop v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1910
- Gables v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1911