Howell v. State
| Decision Date | 24 March 1913 |
| Citation | 61 So. 314,104 Miss. 295 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | WATSON HOWELL v. STATE |
March, 1913
APPEAL from the circuit court of Marshall county, HON. H. K. MAHON, Judge.
Watson Howell was convicted of manslaughter and appeals.
The facts are fully stated in the opinion of the court.
Reversed.
Smith & Totten, attorneys for appellant.
Claude Clayton, assistant attorney-general, for the state.
Appellant was indicted for a murder, and convicted of manslaughter. The homicide is admitted and explained. The witnesses for defendant showed that the homicide was committed in self-defense, and there is nothing in the whole evidence contradictory of, or inconsistent with, the version of the facts offered by defendant; indeed, the defensive evidence dovetails with all the physical facts, and seems to conclusively demonstrate the innocence of appellant.
It is difficult to understand how the jury arrived at its verdict, unless the jury were misled by sham battles waged by counsel, in which absolutely immaterial matters were converted into points of apparently serious controversy. It may be the jury arrived at the conclusion that, when the fictitious issues were determined against the defendant, it necessarily followed that a verdict of guilt should be returned. This court can find nothing to justify the verdict.
The judgment is reversed, and a judgment here finding appellant not guilty.
Reversed.
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Conway v. State
... ... State, 92 So. 630; Jones v. State, 92 So. 586; ... Early v. State, 91 So. 417 ... The ... court erred in overruling defendant's motion for a new ... trial on the ground that the verdict of the jury was contrary ... to the great weight of the evidence ... Howell ... v. State, 61 So. 314 ... Where a ... verdict is against the overwhelming weight of the evidence it ... should be set aside on motion of defendant ... Carter ... v. State, 166 So. 377 ... Earle ... L. Wingo, of Hattiesburg, for appellant ... The ... ...
-
Thompson v. State
... ... 562; Porter v. State, 1 Miss. Dec. 555; ... Campbell v. State, 1 Miss. Dec. 413; Dennis v ... State, 91 Miss. 221; Harris v. State, 71 Miss ... 462, 14 So. 266; Monroe v. State, 71 Miss. 196, 13 ... So. 884; Jones v. State, [124 Miss. 467] 91 Miss ... 868, 45 So. 145; Howell v. State, 104 Miss. 295, 61 ... So. 314; Hunt v. State, 108 Miss. 588, 67 So. 57 ... The ... supreme court will not reverse merely because, if, sitting as ... a jury, it would have returned a different verdict. Brown ... v. State, 102 Miss. 639, 60 So. 726; Jackson v ... State, ... ...
-
Benard v. State
...(1928); Edwards v. Commonwealth, 233 Ky. 356, 25 S.W.2d 746 (1930); Smith v. State, 219 Miss. 741, 69 So.2d 837 (1954); Howell v. State, 104 Miss. 295, 61 So. 314 (1913); State v. Howell, 220 S.C. 178, 66 S.E.2d 701 (1951). See generally Anno. 75 A.L.R.2d 683, 691, § 4; 22 C.J.S. Criminal L......
- Price v. State