State v. Wyatt
Decision Date | 31 July 1872 |
Parties | THE STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent, v. THOMAS WYATT, Appellant. |
Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from St. Clair Circuit Court.
E. J. Smith and Waldo P. Johnson, for appellant.
A. J. Baker, Attorney-General, for respondent.
It appears from the record that one Fisher was indicted for the illing of a man by the name of Murphy, and the defendant was charged with being present, aiding, helping, abetting and assisting him in the commission of the crime. Upon the trial the jury ound the defendant guilty of manslaughter in the second degree, and assessed his punishment at three years' imprisonment in the penitentiary. From the judgment and sentence rendered on this verdict he has appealed.
The principal reasons assigned for error are that one of the jurors who tried the case was incompetent to sit, and also that erroneous instructions were given on the part of the State. When the jurors were impaneled none of them disclosed the fact that they had formed or expressed an opinion in reference to the guilt or innocence of the accused. But after the trial a motion was made to set aside the verdict on the ground that Whitaker, who was foreman of the jury, had previously declared his belief as to the defendant's guilt, and had stated that he ought to be punished. This motion was sustained by affidavits. Whitaker filed a counter-statement in which he did not deny using the expressions imputed to him, but said he was laboring under a misapprehension, and that he was thinking of a different case. This affidavit of Whitaker is not satisfactory, and is opposed by evidence which is much more explicit and clear. One of the affiants states positively that in the week previous to the trial Whitaker expressed his fears that defendant would be acquitted, and stated that it ought not to be so, as he believed he was guilty. The other one says that he was guarding the prisoner when he was confined in jail, and Whitaker accosted him and made inquiries respecting the defendant, and manifested his sentiments as to his guilt. The two witnesses who filed these affidavits appear to be truthful and unbiased, and no attempt is made to impeach their credibility in the least. The impression on my mind, from reading all the statements together, is that the juror was disqualified, and that it would be an imputation on the administration of criminal justice to permit the verdict to stand. (State v. Burnside, 37 Mo. 343...
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