Davis v. State

Math Davis, B. M. Franklin and Ben McDaniel were jointly indicted for the murder of Eunie Johnson. They were all convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The evidence for the State was largely circumstantial. The theory of the State was that these white men went to the home of the negro Johnson, represented1 that they were deputy-sheriffs with a warrant for his arrest,-enticed *403him away from his home, then shot and disemboweled him, cut off a finger and an ear and then hid his body in a small stream. The homicide took place while the court was in session and…