Shikles v. State

The defendant shot Council Taylor on March 12, 1942, culminating an argument over a division line between the property of defendant and Taylor's father. The two pistol bullets causing death entered the region of the spine, penetrated the body and emerged under the arm. One bullet punctured the spinal column.

About a "week or nine days" before he died on April 14, 1942, Taylor made a statement detailing his version of the affair. As predicate for the admission of this statement, the witness testified that deceased said "he was going to die and he had no hope of recovery. He believed that he was…