State v. Jaggers

Decision Date11 October 1904
Citation58 A. 1014,71 N.J.L. 281
PartiesSTATE v. JAGGERS.
CourtNew Jersey Supreme Court

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error to Court of Oyer and Terminer, Sussex County.

George Jaggers was convicted of murder, and brings error. Affirmed.

Theodore Simonson and Lewis J. Martin, for plaintiff in error.

Henry Huston, for the State.

MAGIE, Chancellor. This writ of error was directed to the Sussex county oyer and terminer under the provisions of section 134 of the revised criminal procedure act of 1898 (Laws 1898, p. 914). It brings into review the conviction of plaintiff in error of the crime of murder in the first degree. The cause has been argued as presented by bills of exception and assignment of errors, and also by a return of the entire record of the proceedings had upon the trial of plaintiff in error, and causes specified thereon, pursuant to sections 136 and 137 of the criminal procedure act, ubi supra. The assignments of error and the causes specified present substantially the same questions, and they will be considered in the order presented by the assignments of error.

The first and second assignments of error may be considered together. They are directed to the admission of evidence alleged to justify the inference that plaintiff in error, while confined in the county jail upon the charge in the indictment, attempted to take his own life. It has always been recognized that the flight of one accused of crime, or his escape from custody under a criminal charge, may be given in evidence upon the trial of an indictment for the crime charged. Such evidence is deemed, when unexplained, to raise some presumption of guilt, akin to the presumptions deemed to arise upon fabrication of false evidence or the suppression of true evidence. Wharton, Criminal Practice, § 724; Wills, Circumstantial Evidence, 78 et seq. The principle upon which such evidence is admitted against an accused person we deem applicable to evidence that the accused, when in custody charged with crime, attempted to take his own life and thereby escape further prosecution. Upon this principle the evidence objected to in this case was plainly admissible.

The third assignment is based on an exception to the refusal of the trial court to discharge defendant, or to direct a verdict of not guilty, at the close of the state's evidence. This motion was addressed to the discretion of the court, and the action of the court is not reviewable on error. But we are required by the provisions of section 136 of the criminal procedure act of 1898, ubi supra, to consider whether the plaintiff in error, who brings up the case under that section, has suffered manifest wrong or injury in the denial of any matter by the trial court which was a matter of discretion. This question is presented by plaintiff in error among the causes specified and relied on for relief or reversal under section 137. When this court pronounced its opinion in Kohl v. State, 59 N. J. Law, 445, 36 Atl. 931, 37 Atl. 73, there was in force the act of 1894 (Gen. St. p. 1154, § 170), which required us...

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31 cases
  • State v. Hargraves
    • United States
    • Idaho Supreme Court
    • November 6, 1940
    ... ... Sullivan , 34 Idaho 68, 199 P ... 647, 17 A. L. R. 902; State v. Croxton , 173 La. 699, ... 138 So. 513; Commonwealth v. Green , 302 Mass. 547, ... 20 N.E.2d 417; People v. Duncan , 261 Ill. 339, 103 ... N.E. 1043; State v. Painter , 329 Mo. 314, 44 S.W.2d ... 79; State v. Jaggers , 71 N.J.L. 281, 58 A. 1014, 108 ... Am. St. 746; Commonwealth v. Mercier , 257 Mass. 353, ... 153 N.E. 834.) ... Appellant ... insists the evidence is insufficient to sustain the ... conviction of first degree murder. From the authorities ... hereafter cited the question of the ... ...
  • State v. Lawrence
    • United States
    • North Carolina Supreme Court
    • January 23, 1929
    ... ... Coudotte, 7 N. D ... 109, 72 N.W. 913, the court held that there is no presumption ... of guilt arising from the fact that the person charged with ... crime, and while in confinement and before trial, attempts to ... commit suicide. It is suggested that the case of State v ... Jaggers, 71 N. J. Law, 281, 58 A. 1014, 108 Am. St. Rep ... 746, while holding to the contrary, is not supported by ... reason or authority. We, however, do not agree with ... appellant's contention in this respect. Other than the ... cases cited by appellant, our attention is directed by the ... ...
  • State v. Mann
    • United States
    • New Jersey Supreme Court
    • June 15, 1993
    ...own life while in custody and charged with a crime was properly admitted to show his intent to escape further prosecution. 71 N.J.L. 281, 282, 58 A. 1014 (1904). In admitting such evidence, courts often have relied on the traditional view that a defendant may attempt suicide because of an i......
  • State v. Moffa
    • United States
    • New Jersey Superior Court — Appellate Division
    • June 4, 1963
    ...N.J.Super. 177, 180, 84 A.2d 20 (App.Div.1951); State v. Bacheller, 89 N.J.L. 433, 435, 98 A. 829 (Sup.Ct.1916); State v. Jaggers, 71 N.J.L. 281, 283, 58 A. 1014 (E. & A.1904). In State v. Fox, supra, 12 N.J.Super., at p. 135, 79 A.2d, at p. 77, Judge Bigelow 'Before the reorganization of o......
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