Woods v. Commonwealth

Opinion op the Court by

Judge Latimer

Reversing.

Amos and Johnny Woods, brothers, were indicted jointly for the crime of murder. They moved for separate trials and the Commonwealth elected first to try Amos. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and his punishment fixed at confinement for 21 years. He prosecutes this appeal alleging 14 grounds for reversal, many of which overlap and can readily be condensed into 6 chief grounds, namely: (1) The dying statements of Tommy Ashcraft did not meet the tests necessary for admission as evidence as a dying declaration. (2) The court should have…