Brown v. State

Johnnie Brown, a Negro, appeals from a judgment and sentence of death following a jury’s verdict that he was guilty of murder in the first degree for shooting a policeman as he was being taken to the station house. It is contended that the trial court erred in refusing to examine the jurors on their voir dire as to possible prejudice against Negroes, that it was error to admit evidence tending to prove prior crimes, that the jury should have been instructed that there was no evidence as a matter of law of murder in the first degree, and, finally, that two questions asked appellant by the…