State v. Minor
State v. Minor
Opinion of the Court
Defendant appeals from a conviction of shooting with intent to kill under an indictment charging him with shooting with intent to murder, and from a sentence of not less than 18 months nor more than 24 months at hard labor.
Two bills of exception were reserved in the case, the first to the remarks of- the district attorney in his closing argument before the jury, and the second to the refusal of the trial judge to grant him a new trial, based on the grounds: (1) That the verdict of the jury is contrary to the law and the evidence; (2) that the remarks made by the district attorney were prejudicial to the accused, and unlawful, and caused the jury to find the verdict returned against accused.
While counsel for the defendant excepted to the remarks of the district attorney, he dia not request the court to charge the jury to disregard them, and, as the court did not consider the remarks of the prosecuting of
The remarks of the district attorney as to the philosophy of the law and its object in inflicting punishment was a mere discussion of an abstract proposition of law, wholly irrelevant to the case, and, as these remarks were general and impersonal, they cannot reasonably be construed as an appeal to the jury to convict the accused upon trial merely to make an example of him, whether guilty or not. We fail therefore to see wherein any prejudice resulted to the accused from the remarks made to the jury by the state’s attorney.
The judgment appealed from is therefore
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. MINOR
- Cited By
- 4 cases
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- Published
- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staf.) 1. Criminal law &wkey;3ÍI59(2) — Jurisdiction of Supreme Court confined to questions of law, and does not extend to sufficiency of evidence. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in criminal cases is confined to questions of law, and does not extend to questions of the sufficiency of the evidence on which a defendant is convicted, which is one of fact, whether the conviction is of the offense charged or of a lesser offense included in the indictment. 2. Criminal law That the prosecuting officer in speaking of the philosophy of the law said that punishment was not meted out merely for the sake of punishing, but for the purpose of deterring others, and gave an illustration, held not prejudicial error, no reference being made to accused personally or to the case on trial.