State v. Farris
State v. Farris
Opinion of the Court
This case was remanded for tlie purpose of taking testimony in order to enable this court to determine whether or not objection and exception had been made to certain remarks of the district attorney in his closing argument to the jury. This has been done, and the matter is now before us for consideration.
The minute clerk, whose duty it was to keep a record of proceedings, swears most positively that the objection contended for by defendant was made, and that he, at the request of counsel, furnished the latter with two blank subpoenas, on which the notation thereof was-made with the judge’s consent
The judge and the district attorney say with equal certainty that, while the remark in question was made, no objection was urged thereto by counsel for defendant. The ’judge says that one of the counsel did pass near his stand and remark in an undertone that the counsel for the state was “going pretty strong,” or words to that effect, and that he (the judge) expected objection to be made, but was impressed by the fact that it was not done. Three of the jurors were called and said that they remembered only one objection being made to the argument, and the sheriff gave similar testimony.
We are confronted with a very unusual and deplorable situation, due mainly, we think, to the irregular manner in which these exceptions were handled. They should have been disposed of by approval or disapproval of the court at the time they were presented, or the court should have informed counsel at once of its unwillingness to approve the one now in dispute. The weight of the evidence is' in favor of the objection having been made. Three witnesses swear positively to the affirmative, while the testimony of the judge and district attorney is of a strong but negative character. The district attorney’s attention was doubtless centered upon the argument which he was
For the reasons assigned, the verdict and sentence appealed from are annulled and set aside, and this case is hereby remanded to the lower court to be proceeded with according to law.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. FARRIS
- Cited By
- 4 cases
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- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staff.) I.Criminal law &wkey;>1092(15) — Presenting copies of bills of exceptions to counsel for state after handing bill to judge held sufficient. Where after the termination of a murder prosecution the trial judge hurriedly left for home, placing two bills of exceptions prepared by defendant’s counsel in his pocket after marking them filed, and thereafter wrote his per curiam on them, and alleging that he mailed them back to the clerk, that copies were furnished state’s counsel on the evening of the same day that the bills were handed to the judge held sufficient, although it is ordinarily the duty of counsel to submit such bills to the attorney for the other side before presenting them to the court. 2. Criminal law Where, in a murder prosecution, the guestion arose on appeal as to whether objection had been made to certain remarks of the district attorney, and the case was remanded to determine such issue, evidence held to require a finding that the objection had in fact been made. 3. Criminal law. Remark of the district attorney in a murder prosecutioh, “If you don’t hang under this evidence, you might as well tear down the courthouse in De Soto parish,” held improper.