Johnson v. State

• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: STEVENS, J.
• Citation: Johnson v. State, 122 Miss. 16, 84 So. 140 (Miss. 1920)
• Decision Date: 12 April 1920
• Docket Number: 21083
• Parties: JOHNSON v. STATE

84 So. 140

122 Miss. 16

JOHNSON v. STATE

No. 21083

Supreme Court of Mississippi

April 12, 1920

March 1920

PERJURY. Sufficiency of proof of falsity of oath stated.

Before an accused can be convicted under an indictment for perjury the fact that the oath was false must be proved by two witnesses, or by one witness and corroborating circumstances.

HON. C P. LONG, Judge.

APPEAL from circuit court of Alcorn county, HON. C. P. LONG, Judge.

Elmer Johnson was convicted of perjury, and he appeals.

Judgment reversed, and prisoner discharged.

Ely B. Mitchell, for appellant.

N. T. Currie, attorney-general, for the state.

OPINION

STEVENS, J.

Appellant was indicted and convicted of the crime of perjury, and from the judgment of the court sentencing him to two years in the state penitentiary this appeal is prosecuted.

The record shows that, some time prior to the indictment an affidavit was lodged in the mayor's court of the city of Corinth, charging appellant with being a vagrant under section 5055, subsec. (c), Code of 1906; section 3332, Hemingway's Code. Immediately upon arrest of the accused under said affidavit, he was tried by the mayor, and during the progress of the trial the defendant testified in his own behalf. At the conclusion of the trial by the mayor the defendant was promptly convicted and placed under bond on a charge of perjury. Thereafter appellant was indicted in the circuit court on the said charge of perjury, the material charge of the indictment being that appellant as a witness before T. E. Henry, mayor of Corinth, in testifying in his own behalf on the said charge of vagrancy, falsely, feloniously, and willfully swore and gave evidence:

"That he the said Elmer Johnson within the three weeks prior thereto had worked twelve days at manual labor for the Churchill Compress Company, whereas in truth and in fact during the three weeks prior to said day he, the said Elmer Johnson, had not worked twelve days for the said Churchill Compress Company, and had not worked more than two days for the said Churchill Compress Company, or for any other person or corporation, but had been guilty of vagrancy during said time," etc.

On the trial under said indictment, Mr. Henry, the mayor, gave evidence tending to support the charge contained in the indictment, while appellant contends that he did not testify in the mayor's court that he had in fact worked twelve days for the...