McDaniel v. Commonwealth

Opinion of

Judge Sampson

Dissenting.

I dissent from the majority opinion for the reason that I am fully convinced the trial court committed grievous errors against appellant. To my mind the verdict and judgment are unwarranted. The appellant is a negro boy who, at the time of the killing, was turning into his eighteenth year. He is uneducated and has little training that would qualify him to either understand or prepare his case for trial. His youth and inexperience, no doubt, account in part for his sudden excitement which caused him to fire the pistol which took the life of the unfortunate…