Stewart v. State

J. Seaborn Holt, Associate Justice.

The appellant, Clarence Stewart, Jr., a Negro, was charged by information with the crime of first degree murder. The jury returned a verdict of guilty and punishment was assessed at death. William N. Caldwell was an elderly, partially crippled man who owned and operated a small auto parts store in the city of North Little Rock. On January 8, 1959, around noon his body was discovered in his store by a customer. An investigation revealed that Mr. Caldwell had been stabbed nineteen times with six of the knife wounds penetrating the heart. The county coroner…