State v. Pitts

Decision Date08 May 1900
PartiesSTATE v. PITTS.
CourtMissouri Supreme Court

Appeal from circuit court, Howard county; John A. Hockaday, Judge.

Babe Pitts, convicted of assault with intent to kill, appeals. Affirmed.

J. H. La Motte, for appellant. Edward C. Crow, Atty. Gen., and Sam B. Jeffries, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

GANTT, P. J.

At the April term, 1899, of the Howard circuit court, defendant was indicted for assault with intent to kill, in one count, and in another for felonious maiming. He was convicted on the first count, and sentenced to the penitentiary. He appeals.

The evidence discloses that Daniel Metcalf was marshal of the town of Roanoke, in Howard county, and on the evening of December 24, 1898, he was assaulted by the defendant with some dangerous instrument, and knocked senseless. Defendant was firing off a pistol in the public streets, and the marshal went up to him, and told him that the shooting on the street must be stopped, and took hold of his arm or coat sleeve, whereupon defendant struck him over the head with the pistol or other blunt instrument knocking him down and rendering him insensible. The defendant then fled, but was arrested later that night, but released by the deputy. He then left the county, and was gone until the next spring. The defense was that Sam Pitts, another negro, and not defendant, made the assault.

Various errors are assigned in the brief. The motion for new trial contained only two grounds, namely, that the verdict was against the evidence and against the instructions. There was ample positive evidence that defendant committed the assault, and the verdict will not be disturbed on this ground.

The question now raised for the first...

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