Bell v. State

The defendant was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree. The entire testimony for the state, and of the most material importance on the trial, consisted of the statements of two absent witnesses taken down on the preliminary trial of this defendant. A predicate for the introduction of these statements was undertaken to be laid; but it was insufficient, *77in that it was not shown, by inference even, that these witnesses were at the time of trial outside the state. The most that could be said of the testimony assuming to lead to the establishment of the proper predicate is that a deputy…