Johnson v. Commonwealth

Opinion of the Court by

Judge Eses —

Eeversing.

Appellant and Son Sommers were jointly indicted in the Hopkins circuit conrt charged with the murder of Elios Murphey and, on a separate trial, appellant was found guilty and his punishment fixed at death. The trial court having refused to grant him a new trial he has appealed.

The appellant and Son Sommers, two negroes, were stealing a ride on a passenger train which arrived in Madisonville about 9 o’clock in the evening of March 7, 1925. They were riding between the baggage car and the locomotive tender. R. B. Watson, acting chief of police of…