State v. Newland LeFevers

Edwin Pitts was fatally stabbed by the defendant, following a brief altercation, on the floor of a dance hall at the Yaldese swimming pool. The deceased was at the time unarmed. The defendant pleaded self-defense.

In line with this defense the defendant offered evidence tending to show that the deceased had the general reputation of being a violent and dangerous fighting man, and the State offered evidence in rebuttal. In the course of the cross-examination of a State’s witness on this point the defendant asked the witness if he did not know that the deceased had the general reputation of…