State v. Wilks
Supreme Court of Missouri
Appeal from Lawrence Circuit Court. — Hon Charles L. Henson, Judge. (1) The court erred in refusing to exclude the testimony of Cora Knott as to the alleged dying declaration of deceased. Dying declarations are limited to the circumstance of the killing and by whom; they cannot include what went before or a separate and disconnected fact (with the act of killing) nor can they include ani expression of opinion or belief, but are confined to statement of fact.
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Appeal from Lawrence Circuit Court. — Hon Charles L. Henson, Judge. (1) The court erred in refusing to exclude the testimony of Cora Knott as to the alleged dying declaration of deceased. Dying declarations are limited to the circumstance of the killing and by whom; they cannot include what went before or a separate and disconnected fact (with the act of killing) nor can they include ani expression of opinion or belief, but are confined to statement of fact. In all cases it is for the court to pass upon the question of the competency of the statements and to the jury can only be left the…
1Opinion of the Court
WHITE, C.
The defendant on a trial in the Circuit Court of Lawrence County was found guilty of murder in the first degree. He was charged with having killed his father, George Wilks. From that judgment he appealed to this court.
Virgil Wilks was 21 years old at the time of the trial in September, 1918. There was one previous trial of the case, in which the jury disagreed. George Wilks was 64 years of age, a farmer, and lived about five miles west of the City of Aurora, and about two miles north of Verona, in Lawrence County. He had a number of children, all of whom had married and left home,…
2Cases cited2 opinions
- State v. . WilliamsSupreme Court of North Carolina · 1872
- Frœlich v. Southern Express Co.Supreme Court of North Carolina · 1872
3Cited by6 opinions
- Shepard v. United StatesSupreme Court of the United States · 1933
- State v. StrawtherSupreme Court of Missouri · 1938
- State v. ProctorSupreme Court of Missouri · 1954
- State v. HughesSupreme Court of Missouri · 1939
- State v. MahoneMissouri Court of Appeals · 1985
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