Kearce v. State

Sandy Walker and Jim Thomas were jointly indicted for the murder of Cliff Kearce by striking him with a shotgun. Nim Kearce was charged in the same indictment as accessory before the fact to the same murder. It was alleged that though Nim Kearce was absent at the time the blow was inflicted, he procured, counseled, and commanded the principal defendants to commit the homicide. On a separate trial Nim Kearce was convicted on testimony delivered in part by Sandy Walker as a witness for the State, to the effect that witness committed the actual murder by procurement of the defendant Nim Kearce,…