State v. Smith
State v. Smith
Opinion of the Court
Defendants were tried and convicted on a similar affidavit to that upon which John Mancuso was tried and convicted, before the judge, without a jury, and which has been just now decided. Ante, p. 58, 55 South. 709.
Bill of exceptions No. 2 refers to the charge of duplicity, stated in the Mancuso ease, and overruled.
“The record (memoranda, note entry, etc.) must have been made at or about the time of the event recorded. AVhether in a given case it was made so near that the recollection may be assumed to have been sufficiently fresh must depend on the circumstances of the case.” Greenleaf, § 439.
Bill of exceptions No. 6 is to the offer and admission in evidence of two bottles of beer by the state, on the ground that the bottles had been in possession of the witness during some 90 days, instead of in the possession of the clerk of the court. Act No. 45 of 1886 is cited in support of the contention presented. That is an act amending section 1015 of the Revised Statutes, which has reference to the duties of justices of the peace, or other committing magistrates in the parishes, and recorders in the parish of Orleans. It has no application to the conduct of witnesses in the district courts of the state.
Bill of exceptions No. 8 is to the action of the court in overruling the motion for a new trial. The motion embraces the grounds heretofore considered in the other bills, and the further ground:
“That the court erred in giving weight, sufficient to convict, to the testimony of witnesses Pinson and Higginbotham, who were uncorroborated, and acted as they themselves admit, beseeching the sale of the alleged intoxicants; said witnesses being strangers to this community, and hailing from Jackson, Miss., and Jacksonville, Fla., and confessedly paid five dollars a day and ‘expenses’ within a reasonable amount, employed by a so-called ‘Good Government League’ of Lake Charles.”
This bears upon the weight given the evidence by the trial judge, which we cannot review.
The judgment appealed from is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.