Shaw v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 23 January 1925 |
| Citation | 268 S.W. 550,206 Ky. 781 |
| Parties | SHAW v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Bullitt County.
Mack Shaw was convicted of unlawfully possessing intoxicating liquor, and he appeals. Reversed and remanded.
C. P Bradbury, of Shepherdsville, for appellant.
Frank E. Daugherty, Atty. Gen., and Moorman Ditto, Asst. Atty Gen., for the Commonwealth.
Appellant was convicted of unlawfully possessing intoxicating liquor. The evidence is conflicting, and there is no complaint that the verdict is flagrantly against the evidence, or that any error was committed during the trial. But it is urgently insisted that a statement made by the court to the entire panel of petit jurors, just after their selection for service during the term, and of which the appellant did not learn until after his conviction, was highly prejudicial.
That the statement was improper under our Code of Practice must be conceded, since it could not have been understood by the jurors, from which the jury in this case was later selected otherwise than as a general instruction by the court, as indeed it was in effect, that it was their duty in all trials for violations of the liquor law to disregard the evidence of the accused as unworthy of belief. Section 225, Criminal Code; Barnett v. Commonwealth, 84 Ky. 449, 1 S.W. 722, 8 Ky. Law Rep. 448; Wright v. Commonwealth, 85 Ky. 123, 2 S.W. 904, 8 Ky. Law Rep. 718; Forman v. Commonwealth, 86 Ky. 605, 6 S.W. 579, 9 Ky. Law Rep. 759; Smith v. Commonwealth, 122 Ky. 444, 91 S.W. 1130, 29 Ky. Law Rep. 17. We also are of the opinion that it was prejudicial to appellant's substantial rights, since it discredited his denial of guilt, with reference to which the evidence of some 10 or 12 witnesses was very conflicting.
Hence for this error the judgment must be reversed, unless, as is the insistence for the commonwealth, the statement is not properly authenticated for consideration upon appeal, because it appears only in the motion and grounds for a new trial. This, however, is not true. Although the statement is not set out elsewhere than in the motion and grounds for a new trial, it is referred to and made a part of the bill of exceptions, which in turn is approved and certified as correct by the trial judge, and ordered to be made a part of the record without being spread upon the order book.
Section 271 of the Code prescribes the grounds for which a new trial may be granted. Among these are newly discovered evidence which, like the error here complained of, could...
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State v. Carriker
...361, 141 S.W.2d 282, and authorities therein cited. Practically the same statement made here was made by the trial judge in Shaw v. Com., 206 Ky. 781, 268 S.W. 550, and it was there held to be reversible error.' Accord, Mele v. Becker, 1 Mich.App. 172, 134 N.W.2d 846 (1965). G.S. § 1--180, ......
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Palmer v. Commonwealth
...opinion and influencing prospective jurors against them. It is sought to apply to the facts the rules laid down in Shaw v. Commonwealth, 206 Ky. 781, 268 S.W. 550; Miller v. Commonwealth, 225 Ky. 744, 9 S.W.2d 1088. The cases, we think, are to be distinguished on the facts. In both of them ......
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Palmer v. Commonwealth
...opinion and influencing prospective jurors against them. It is sought to apply to the facts the rules laid down in Shaw v. Commonwealth, 206 Ky. 781, 268, S.W. 550; and Miller v. Commonwealth, 225 Ky. 744, 9 S.W. (2d) 1088. The cases, we think, are to be distinguished on the In both of them......
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Morris v. Com.
...279 S.W. 346 212 Ky. 363 MORRIS v. COMMONWEALTH. Court of Appeals of Kentucky.January 12, 1926 ... Appeal ... from Circuit Court, Trigg County ... Walter ... Ky. 591, 255 S.W. 276; McCurry v. Commonwealth, 205 ... Ky. 211, 265 S.W. 630; Mitchell v. Commonwealth, 206 ... Ky. 634, 268 S.W. 313; Shaw v. Commonwealth, 206 Ky ... 781, 268 S.W. 550. This ground, therefore, is without merit ... Finding ... no error ... ...