Coleman v. State
| Decision Date | 25 November 1929 |
| Docket Number | 28248 |
| Citation | 155 Miss. 482,124 So. 652 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | COLEMAN et al. v. STATE |
ROBBERY. Positive and unequivocable testimony of state witnesses identifying defendants was sufficient to sustain conviction for robbery.
In a prosecution for robbery, the positive and unequivocable testimony of a state witness identifying the defendants as the persons who robbed him, such witness not being impeached in any manner known to the law, is sufficient to sustain a conviction, although several witnesses testified for the defendants to an alibi.
APPEAL from circuit court of Pontotoc county, HON. C. P. LONG Judge.
George Coleman and another were convicted of robbery, and they appeal. Affirmed.
Judgment affirmed.
Bratton & Mitchell, of Pontotoc, for appellants.
The only question to be determined is whether the prosecuting witness was mistaken as to the persons that robbed him. The testimony shows very conclusively that the defendants were from ten to twelve miles away from the scene at the time of the alleged robbery.
W. A. Shipman, Assistant Attorney-General, for the state.
The rule is that it is the province of the jury to determine the credit due witnesses and that the verdict will not be set aside if there is evidence in the record to sustain it.
Hughes v. State, 2 Miss. Dec. 88; Owens v. State, 63 Miss. 450; Hardy v. State, 143 Miss. 352, 108 So. 727; Alexander v. State, 21 So. 923; Ransom v. State, 149 Miss. 262, 115 So. 208; Blockman v. State, 149 Miss. 212, 115 So. 399.
The appellants were indicted and tried and convicted of robbing Archie Reed.
It appears that Reed lived by himself some ten or twelve miles from the town of Pontotoc. He was awakened one night along about the first of September, 1928, by some one calling him he went to the door, struck a light, and then opened the door, and the two defendants grabbed him; one of them took the keys from his pocket, opened his wardrobe, and took therefrom a pistol and razor. Reed resisted the attempt to rob him and was struck over the head and dazed. The state's witness testified that he identified the two defendants positively, although they had flour or soda, or something of the kind, smeared around upon their faces. He had known the defendants for several years. After he was robbed he went to a neighbor and disclosed the fact, telling some of the circumstances. On the following morning he tracked them some little distance from his house. One...
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