Legere v. State

Citation77 S.W. 1059
PartiesLEGERE v. STATE.
Decision Date05 December 1903
CourtSupreme Court of Tennessee
77 S.W. 1059
LEGERE
v.
STATE.
Supreme Court of Tennessee.
December 5, 1903.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Hancock County.

F. M. Legere was convicted of murder in the first degree, and appeals. Reversed.

H. T. Coleman, R. L. Davis, L. M. Jarvis, C. W. Margraves, and J. A. Susong, for appellant. The Attorney General, for the State.

BEARD, C. J.


The plaintiff in error was jointly indicted with one Perry Meyers for the killing of John Davis and Grant Seals on the evening of the 7th of June, 1902. Subsequently Meyers asked a severance, which was granted him by the court. About the same time the state entered a nolle prosequi as to the killing of Grant Seals, and then placed the plaintiff in error on trial alone for the homicide of John Davis, the result of which was his conviction of murder in the first degree. Motion for a new trial having been overruled, the case has been appealed to this court, and many errors are assigned upon the action of the circuit judge.

The verdict in the case rests largely upon the testimony of Perry Meyers, who was used by the state as a witness. An examination

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of the record satisfies us, if not essential to sustain the theory of the state, that at least this testimony was very important to it. This being so, it was proper, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, while the state had the full benefit of it, under an application of the rules of law, yet the plaintiff in error should be safeguarded so that undue weight be not given to it. Immediately after the killing of Davis and of Seals, the record discloses that both Legere and Meyers were arrested upon a warrant charging them with the murder of these men. At the coroner's inquest held the day following the arrest, Meyers testified he had been with Legere and the deceased during the day of the killing, but that neither he nor Legere had anything to do with it. Subsequently, upon the preliminary examination before a magistrate, he was examined, and again, under oath, reiterated the statement as to the innocence of himself and of Legere of the crime charged against them. On both occasions he gave a detailed account of what occurred while in company with the murdered men, and of the separation of Legere and himself from them while they were still alive, and of their acts and movements during the evening and night following this separation. As a result of this preliminary examination, both these parties were held to answer the charge of murder at the next term of the circuit court of Hancock county, at which time the joint indictment was found against them. After this, and before the trial took place, Meyers was in some way released from jail, where he had been for some months confined upon this charge. Soon after his release, negotiations were entered upon by his father and himself with the prosecutor, which resulted in an agreement that, in consideration of his turning state's evidence against Legere, as far as he (prosecutor) could control the matter, Meyers...

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