State v. Banks
Supreme Court of Missouri
Appeal from St. Louis Court of Appeals. Defendant was indicted for murder in the first degree in killing his wife, Annie Banks. She had refused to live with him any longer, alleging cruel treatment, and had obtained employment as a domestic servant. He had insisted upon her returning to him, and, there was evidence tending to show, had threatened to kill her if she did not. There was also other evidence tending to identify defendant as the person who did the killing.
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Appeal from St. Louis Court of Appeals. Defendant was indicted for murder in the first degree in killing his wife, Annie Banks. She had refused to live with him any longer, alleging cruel treatment, and had obtained employment as a domestic servant. He had insisted upon her returning to him, and, there was evidence tending to show, had threatened to kill her if she did not. There was also other evidence tending to identify defendant as the person who did the killing. The fatal shot was fired through a window, the shutters of which were open, at night, as the woman stood at work in the house…
1Opinion of the Court
I
Sherwood, C. J.
The instruction given by the criminal court was a very clear and satisfactory exposition of the law relating to murder in the first degree, but the question arises upon the facts disclosed by this record, whether an instruction should not also have been given touching a lower grade of homicide. The testimony of the witnesses, other than the defendant himself, showed very clearly a case of deliberate murder. But under our law, a defendant in a criminal cause is a competent witness, and his *596status when on the witness stand is the same as that of a party to a civil suit, who…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Vansickle v. BrownSupreme Court of Missouri · 1878
- State v. CooperSupreme Court of Missouri · 1880
- Couley v. StateSupreme Court of Missouri · 1849
3Cited by37 opinions
- State v. PartlowSupreme Court of Missouri · 1886
- State v. TaylorSupreme Court of Missouri · 1893
- State v. PalmerSupreme Court of Missouri · 1886
- State v. BurrellSupreme Court of Missouri · 1923
- State v. MusickSupreme Court of Missouri · 1890
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