State v. Matthews

I am obliged to disagree with the reasoning and conclusion of the majority of the court in this case for the following reasons:

The majority opinion sustains the conviction of the accused upon the second count of the indictment alone. The opinion cites the case of State v. Vaughan, 93 W. Va. 419, 117 S. E. 127, as authorizing a reference from the second count to the first count of the indictment for a material averment not contained in the second count. The case cited lays down the general rule that the aver-ments of one count in an indictment cannot aid defects in another count. It holds that…