People v. . Palmer
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court, in the third judicial department, made September 13, 1881, which reversed a judgment of the court of Oyer and Terminer of the county of Clinton, entered upon a verdict convicting the defendantof the crime of murder in the second degree and granting a new trial. The defendant was indicted for the murder of one Peter Bernard.
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Appeal from judgment of the General Term of the Supreme Court, in the third judicial department, made September 13, 1881, which reversed a judgment of the court of Oyer and Terminer of the county of Clinton, entered upon a verdict convicting the defendantof the crime of murder in the second degree and granting a new trial. The defendant was indicted for the murder of one Peter Bernard. A dead body was found, alleged to be that of Bernard There was no direct proof of that fact, and it was sought to be established by circumstances, among others, that articles were found on or near the body…
1Opinion of the CourtFinch, J.
The prisoner was convicted of murder in the second degree, and that conviction reversed by the General Term, because there was no di/reot evidence which identified the body found as that of the person alleged to have been murdered. Prom that decision the People appeal.
The question is a very grave one; not merely to the prisoner, whose liberty may depend upon the issue, but to the People and the administration of public justice, for, if the law be as the General Term has declared it, a murderer may always escape, if only he shall so mutilate the body of his victim as to make identification by…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- White v. . WagerNew York Court of Appeals · 1862
- White v. WagerNew York Supreme Court · 1860
- Taylor v. StateTexas Supreme Court · 1872
3Cited by50 opinions
- People v. PeeteCalifornia Court of Appeal · 1921
- People v. LipskyNew York Court of Appeals · 1982
- People v. LyttonNew York Court of Appeals · 1931
- Woollcott v. . ShubertNew York Court of Appeals · 1916
- People v. AllenMichigan Court of Appeals · 1972
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