Johnson v. State
Mississippi Supreme Court
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Adams County. Hon. Ealph North, Judge. Henry Johnson was indicted for the murder of his step-child, a boy aged six years, and was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The evidence showed that he gave the child a severe beating, and that five days afterward the child died. The beating was given on Sunday. On Monday next following the child went to the house of one Amy Bradley.
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Appeal from the Circuit Court of Adams County. Hon. Ealph North, Judge. Henry Johnson was indicted for the murder of his step-child, a boy aged six years, and was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The evidence showed that he gave the child a severe beating, and that five days afterward the child died. The beating was given on Sunday. On Monday next following the child went to the house of one Amy Bradley. She was allowed to testify that the child then said to her “ that his head was paining him from the beating his papa gave him on the day before.” The defendant objected to the admission…
1Opinion of the CourtArnold, J.
It was error to admit the testimony as to what the deceased said on the day after the whipping as to the cause of the pain in the head. Field v. The State, 57 Miss. 474.
The ninth instruction for the State should not have been given. The jury should have decided the case upon the testimony before them, without reference to what the wife of appellant might have-testified if she had been called as a witness. The fact that she was not called, was not a legitimate subject of discussion by counsel, or of consideration by the jury. It is true, that generally unfavorable inferences may be indulged…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Newcomb v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1872
- Knowles v. PeopleMichigan Supreme Court · 1867
- Field v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1879
3Cited by17 opinions
- State v. DennisOregon Supreme Court · 1945
- Simpson v. StateMississippi Supreme Court · 1986
- State v. FrankNew Mexico Supreme Court · 1979
- State v. RobySupreme Court of Minnesota · 1915
- Brackney v. FogleIndiana Supreme Court · 1901
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