State v. Geier

• Decision Date: 02 October 1900
• Citation: 83 N.W. 718,111 Iowa 706
• Parties: STATE v. GEIER.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

111 Iowa 706

83 N.W. 718

STATE

v.GEIER.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Oct. 2, 1900.

Appeal from district court, Keokuk county; Benjamin McCoy, Judge.

The defendant was indicted for murder in the first degree, and on trial was convicted of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for the term of 15 years. From this judgment the defendant appeals. Affirmed.D. W. Hamilton and C. H. Mackey, for appellant.

Milton Remley, Atty. Gen., and Chas. A. Van Vleck, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

GIVEN, J.

1. The evidence shows without conflict that on the evening of August 12, 1898, the defendant shot and killed Mathias Morhain. The claims of the appellant are that W. D. Adams, who sat as one of the jurors, was disqualified; that the defendant was not mentally responsible for the act at the time he did the shooting; and that the court erred in refusing an instruction asked by the defendant to the effect that under the evidence the defendant could not be convicted of murder in the first degree.

2. The juror Adams, on examination as to his qualifications to sit as a juror, testified to the effect that he did not know the defendant; had never seen him until at the trial; that he had not talked with any person regarding the facts of the case; that he had not heard the particulars of the case; and had not formed or expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant. The defendant, acting upon these statements, waived challenge of this juror peremptorily or for cause. In support of defendant's motion for a new trial, Sheriff Laffer and City Marshal Grimes made affidavit to the effect that on the night of August 12, 1898, they arrested the defendant at Talleyrand, where the shooting occurred, and that after placing him in jail they met W. D. Adams and E. G. Sampson, and stated to them “the facts and circumstances connected with the shooting as we had learned them at Talleyrand and from the defendant on the way from Talleyrand, and we at the time stated that the killing was a cold-blooded murder.” Mr. Sampson made affidavit to the same effect, and A. D. Long testified to a statement by Adams that the officers had told him about the facts and circumstances of the case. H. H. Richardson testified that, when at Talleyrand in company with Adams before the trial, a party pointed out to them the place where the shooting occurred, the location of the parties, where the man who was killed had fallen, where the...