Loggins v. State
| Decision Date | 12 October 1931 |
| Docket Number | 29640 |
| Citation | 161 Miss. 272,136 So. 922 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | LOGGINS v. STATE |
1. WEAPONS. In prosecution for carrying concealed weapons defendant held entitled to show reason for and purpose of carrying weapon concealed (Code 1930, sections 854, 855).
Under sections 854 and 855, Code of 1930, a defendant is entitled to show reason for having a weapon concealed, and it is error to deny a right to state a purpose for which it was carried.
2. CRIMINAL LAW. Proof in criminal case must establish defendant's guilt beyond reasonable doubt; testimony tending to prove defendant guilty beyond reasonable doubt must be as to facts and not as to inferences or mere conclusions.
In criminal cases the proof must show beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty, and the witness' testimony must be as to facts and not as to inferences or mere conclusions.
APPEAL from circuit court of Lafayette county, HON. T. H. JOHNSTON Judge.
Henry Loggins was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, and he appeals. Judgment reversed, and the defendant discharged.
Reversed and appellant discharged.
R. J. Farley and T. H. McElroy, both of Oxford, for appellant.
The court erred in overruling defendant's motion for a directed verdict at the close of the state's evidence.
The burden is on the state to make the case against the accused sufficient to go to the jury; and where the evidence raises only a mere suspicion of guilt, an acquittal should be directed on request.
High v. State, 2 Okla. Cr. 161, 101 P. 115, 28 L. R. A. (N. S.) 162.
The court erred in not permitting the defendant to testify in answer to the question, "State why you were carrying one with you?" That is the court erred in sustaining the objection thereto.
The court erred in overruling defendant's motion for a peremptory instruction at the close of all the evidence and in permitting the case to be submitted to the jury.
So long as there is a reasonable doubt of defendant's guilt, or a probability of his innocence, the state has not satisfactorily made out its case.
State v. Strother, 74 Miss. 447, 21 So. 147; 16 Corpus Juris, p. 936, Criminal Law, par. 2299; White v. State, 25 So. 1039; Smith v. State, 24 So. 316,
W. A. Shipman, Assistant Attorney-General, for the state.
A careful inspection of the evidence fails to show the guilt of appellant beyond a reasonable doubt. It was, therefore, manifest error to overrule his motion for a peremptory instruction.
The appeal is submitted to the court without argument.
Henry Loggins, the appellant, was convicted of carrying a concealed weapon, and appeals from said conviction.
The prosecuting witness, Billingsley, testified on direct examination that on the night involved he saw Loggins with a pistol; that he was shot by Loggins on said occasion, and that Loggins had the pistol in his hand when the witness was shot. He was then asked, He stated that about two minutes before the shooting he was walking behind the defendant, Loggins; he was then asked:
On cross-examination he stated that it was night and was very dark, and he was not especially noticing the defendant's hands, that he was not particularly watching his hands, and that he did not know where the defendant got the pistol, that he just supposed he had it on him.
The defendant and another witness testified that the defendant came out of a house where they were having a party and...
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