State v. Beard

In the Circuit Court of Pemiscot County defendant was found guilty of murder in the second degree for that he had killed one Charles Jones. Punishment was assessed at twenty years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. From the sentence and judgment an appeal was taken.

The testimony on behalf of the State shows that on Saturday evening, April 9, 1932, four white men and defendant Beard, colored, gathered at the home of Bennie Parham, colored, about a mile and a half north of the town of Swift in Pemiscot County. Parham's house was about 175 feet from a point where the Wardell sand road crosses…