Barnes v. State

Duckworth, Justice.

1. The testimony of a number of eyewitnesses shows that the accused, without provocation, shot the deceased three times with a pistol, from which wounds the deceased died before reaching the hospital. This evidence makes a prima facie case of wilful murder without mitigation. The accused in his statement to the jury did not contradict this evidence in any respect, but merely stated that he had no knowledge of the facts testified to. He offered no evidence to contradict the State’s witnesses as to the killing in any particular, the sole defense made being the testimony of a…