Overton v. State

The plaintiff in error was convicted of assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter and given a maximum punishment of five years in the penitentiary.

This assault was made on one J. M. Scott. Scott was standing in the entrance of a building in Dickson, from which a stairway led to the upper floors, talking to a friend of his. Overton approached the two and, with no immediate provocation, made a vicious attack on Scott with a knife, inflicting a number of severe wounds. Scott was confined to the hospital for some time and claimed that he had not fully recovered át the time of the trial.