Benge v. Commonwealth
Court of Appeals of Kentucky
Case 1 —INDICTMENT— APPEAL PROM CLAY CIRCUIT COURT. 1. The court erred in refusing a continuance. The accused has the right to meet the witnesses face to face. (Bill of Rights, section 12.) 2. If appellant was an accessory, the Commonwealth could not have a conviction until the guilt of the principal was first established. (Gen. Stats., chap. 29, art. 1, sec. 10; Tully v. Commonwealth, 11 Bush, 158; Mulligan v. Commonwealth, 84 Ky., 229.) 3. The indictment is not good.
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Case 1 —INDICTMENT— APPEAL PROM CLAY CIRCUIT COURT. 1. The court erred in refusing a continuance. The accused has the right to meet the witnesses face to face. (Bill of Rights, section 12.) 2. If appellant was an accessory, the Commonwealth could not have a conviction until the guilt of the principal was first established. (Gen. Stats., chap. 29, art. 1, sec. 10; Tully v. Commonwealth, 11 Bush, 158; Mulligan v. Commonwealth, 84 Ky., 229.) 3. The indictment is not good. Mere conclusions and not facts are stated. It is essential to a good indictment that it should state, in ordinary and concise…
1Opinion of the Court
JUDGE BENNETT
delivered the opinion oe the court.
The appellant and Jerry Hampton and others were indicted for the murder of Joseph Bowling by cutting him with a knife — Jerry Hampton being the actual perpetrator of the deed, and the appellant and others being aiders and abettors. It appears from positive and uncontradicted proof that, while Jerry Hampton and another were engaged in a difficulty with each other, the appellant and Matison Benge, without any provocation or excuse whatever, stabbed and killed Joseph Bowling, an unoffending and unresisting person.
The court instructed the jury that…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Mulligan v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1886
3Cited by23 opinions
- Howard v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1901
- Reed v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1907
- Higgins v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1911
- Ratliff v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1918
- Watkins v. CommonwealthCourt of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976) · 1928
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