State v. Williamson
State v. Williamson
Opinion of the Court
Appellant was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of murder.
His first bill of exception was reserved to the refusal of the judge to order the jury to disregard certain testimony given by a physician, preliminary to the introduction of a dying declaration of the victim of the homicide. The physician testified that he came from his residence to the scene of the kill* ing, a distance of about two blocks, in response to a telephone call; and, kneeling beside the wounded man, who was lying on the ground, asked, “Do you realize your condition?” To which the man replied, “Tes, he got me.” The doctor testified that he then asked for writing paper on which to write the man’s dying declaration; that a bystander brought a tablet of paper, and he (the doctor) wrote what the wounded man said.
The statement was not a spontaneous or voluntary or impulsive declaration. It was apparently a calm and deliberate response to a question. Such declarations, made after the occurrence in question, cannot be considered a part of the res gestee. The statement was not admissible in evidence as a dying declaration, and was not offered as such, because it was not proven that the wounded man believed he was dying when he made the declaration. It does not appear, however, that the statement of the wounded man, “Tes, he got me,” was prejudicial to the defendant, as evidence in the case. There is no proof that the declaration had reference to the defendant. Even if it did refer to him, it was not prejudicial to him because he did not deny having killed the man; his defense was that he committed the homicide in self-defense. The verdict of the jury should not be set aside merely because the trial judge erred in admitting in evidence, either as a dying declaration or as a part of the res gestae, a declaration that was not admissible, when it appears that the evidence could not have been prejudicial to the defendant on trial. State v. Chance, 122 La. 706, 48 South. 158.
The verdict and sentence are affirmed.
See dissenting opinion of PROYOSTY, J., 81 South. 739.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. WILLIAMSON
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- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staff.) 1. Criminal Law &wkey;366(3) — Res Gestas. A calm and deliberate response, “Yes, he got me,” by a wounded person in answer to a question of a physician, “Do you realize your condition?” was not admissible in a homicide case as a part of the res gestae. 2. Homicide A statement by a wounded person, “Yes, he got me,” was not admissible in evidence as a dying declaration, whore it was not proven that the wounded man believed he was dying when ho made the declaration. 3. Homicide In a homicide case, admission in evidence of a declaration by deceased, “Yes, he got me,” could not have been prejudicial, where there was no proof that the declaration had reference to the defendant. 4. Homicide In á homicide case, the admission in evidence of a declaration by deceased, “Yes, he got me,” was harmless, if erroneous, where defendant did not deny that he hilled deceased; his defense being that he committed the homicide in self-defense. 5. Criminal Law In a homicide case, where the widow with an infant on her lap caused an interruption of the trial by giving vent to her emotions and crying aloud, the court did all that was required of it, when the attorneys for defendant protested, by promptly having the sheriff take the woman out of the courtroom and instructing the jury to pay no attention to her display of grief and not to allow it to influence them in any manner whatever; defendant’s attorneys having demanded no more. 6. Criminal Law A defendant in a homicide case was not entitled to have the jury discharged and a mistrial entered by reason of the fact that deceased’s widow with an infant on her lap sitting immediately in front of the jury caused an inter-' ruption of the trial by giving vent to her emotions and crying aloud in court, the court immediately having her removed. 7. Criminal Law The prosecuting attorney should not inform the jury of facts that might have been, but were not, proven. 8. Criminal Law In a homicide case, where defendant who claimed that he killed deceased in self-defense introduced evidence that 10 or 12 months before the homicide deceased had cursed and abused him, any error of attorney assisting the prosecution in saying in his argument that the prosecuting attorney could have proved by ample evidence what had provoked the action of the deceased on the occasion referred to, a matter not proven, was cured where the court promptly admonished the attorney to confine his argument to the record and instructed the jury to pay no attention to the argument except in so far as it related to the facts that had been proven on the trial. 9. Criminal Law &wkey;>1064(l) — Appeal — Grounds eor New Trial. An allegation that a verdict was contrary to law and the evidence does not on appeal present for consideration any distinct question of law. 10. Criminal Law On application for new trial, evidence held insufficient to show that a juror thrust his head through a window and told a certain person, “'We’ve got him, I’ll fix him,” indicating by a gesture, placing his hand about his throat. Provosty, J., dissenting.