Reddell v. State

Defendant Reddell was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to serve a term of 21 years in the penitentiary. The evidence indicated that he engaged in a general pool room fight, apparently initiated by him, in which he took on several antagonists concurrently, and that in the course of the fight he seized a cue stick and struck one Ed Williams on the head with it, from which blow Williams died in a few hours.

In the course of cross-examination of the defendant, the State undertook to show that he had previously been in frequent trouble with the law. The following colloquy took place…