O'Brien v. Commonwealth
Court of Appeals of Kentucky
Case 54 — APPEAL EROM EAYETTE CIRCUIT COURT. 1. It was error to allow the attorney for the Commonwealth, in his opening statement to the jury, to read letters which he expected to introduce in evidence. This statement should be limited to a concise statement of the nature of the charge, and the law and evidence upon which the Commonwealth relies.
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Case 54 — APPEAL EROM EAYETTE CIRCUIT COURT. 1. It was error to allow the attorney for the Commonwealth, in his opening statement to the jury, to read letters which he expected to introduce in evidence. This statement should be limited to a concise statement of the nature of the charge, and the law and evidence upon which the Commonwealth relies. (Criminal Code, sec. 220.) It was also error to allow the attorney for the Commonwealth to comment upon the failure of defendant to testify at the examining trial, and this error was not cured by the warning of the court to the jury not to consider…
1Opinion of the Court
JUDGE HOLT
delivered the opinion op the court.
Bettie Shea was a servant girl of good character. She occupied a room over' the kitchen, while the family of her employer slept in a remote part of the house. She was last seen alive by them upon the afternoon of Sunday, March 31, 1889. Early the next morning they found her dead body lying upon the floor of her room, - partially disrobed, as if she were about retiring when cruel and murderous blows, one upon the other, and, from appearances, from six to fifteen in number, made with some blunt instrument, crushed in her skull, and made some one t-he…
2Cited by45 opinions
- People v. RepkeMichigan Supreme Court · 1895
- Howard v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1901
- Morse v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1908
- Moore v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1928
- Bast v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1907
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