Fugate v. State
Fugate v. State
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
There was no error in refusing to allow defendant to examine the juror Emmett Livingston on his voir dire as to his conception of a reasonable doubt. Jurors on their voir dire examination are not to be led into the tangled mazes of this metaphysical field.
Nor was there any error in refusing to allow the juror Roan to answer the question, on his voir dire examination, “whether he would believe witness Roscoe Hoard on oath.” .The court permitted the testimony of Roscoe Hoard to go to the jury over the objection of the defendant, but the next day, upon the request of the state, excluded the testimony. Counsel for state took this action so as not to have possible error in the record. Their reason seems to have been that, whilst Roscoe Hoard cor
The addition of the words “and the jury is in doubt which is the correct theory” to the twenty-sixth instruction asked by the defendant was not error. There being doubt as to the correct theory is submitted as the correct test by counsel for appellant in their twenty-fifth instruction, in which the jury are told that, if there “was any fact in the case susceptible of two reasonable interpretations, one favorable and the other unfavorable to the defendant, and the jury were in doubt which was the correct interpretation,” etc.
It was erroneous in the court to change the first part of the twenty-eighth instruction asked for the defendant by striking-out the word “evidence” and substituting therefor the word “presumption.” But it was harmless error, for the latter clause of the instruction cures it. The jury could not have misunderstood the idea of the instruction as propounded originally.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Joseph Watt Fugate v. State of Mississippi
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Criminal Law. Murder. Jurors. Voir dire examination. Reasonable doubt. A man’s conception of a reasonable doubt is not a proper subject of inguiry when he is presented as a juror in a criminal case and examined on his voir dire. 2. Same. Estimate of witness. Whether a proffered juror would believe a certain witness for the state on oath is not a proper subject of inguiry upon his voir dire examination in a criminal case. 3. Same. Evidence. Witnesses differing. Where testimony touching a certain conversation with the accused, unquestionably relating to the deceased, is otherwise competent, it is not rendered inadmissible in evidence because the witnesses fail to corroborate each other in some particulars concerning it. 4. Same. Theories. Duty of jury. The rule that where there are two reasonable theories as to the facts of a killing, one favorable and the other unfavorable to the accused, the jury are bound to accept the favorable one, only applies in case the jury be in doubt as to the correctness of the unfavorable one. 5. Same. Instructions. Modifications. Harmless error. Where the court instructed the jury in a murder case to the effect that the accused was presumed to be innocent, and that the presumption was an instrument of proof whereby his innocence was established until sufficient evidence should be introduced to overcome it, the erroneous modification of another part of the instruction, charging that the presumption of innocence is not merely a presumption of law, but is evidence in behalf of the accused, by striking out the word “evidence” and inserting “presumption,” does not constitute reversible error.