Caldwell v. Commonwealth

In this appeal, the question presented for our determination is whether the trial court should have declared a mistrial because the court clerk read a certain statute to the jury.

The defendant, John Nathan Caldwell, was tried on an indictment containing four counts charging him, while an inmate of the Portsmouth City Jail, with injuring a jail employee, escaping from jail, possessing an instrument for the purpose of escaping and aiding other inmates to escape, and damaging jail furniture, fixtures and fastenings for the purpose of escaping and aiding others to escape therefrom. Upon his…