State v. Lightsey
State v. Lightsey
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The above named defendants were indicted for an assault with intent to kill. They were tried at the summer term (1894) of the Court of General Sessions for Barnwell County, before his honor, Judge D. A. Townsend. Under the charge of the presiding judge, the jury found them guilty of an assault of a high and aggravated nature, on the second count in the indictment, and they were sentenced to pay a fine or be imprisoned in the State penitentiary.
The third exception is as follows: “Because his honor erred in recalling-the jury from their room after they had retired to deliberate upon the case, and recharging them as to the law of the case, there being no request for such action on the part of the jury.” The principle governing such cases is found in the case of Hopt v. Utah, 120 U. S., 438, in which the court says: “But, independently of this consideration, as to the admissibility of the evidence, if it was erroneously admitted, its subsequent withdrawal from the case, with the accompanying instructions, cured the error. It is true, in some instances, there may be such strong impressions made upon the minds of a jury by illegal and improper testimony, that its subsequent
The fifth exception is as follows: “Because his honor erred in charging the jury that M. M. Lightsey had no right to carry his gun on his own premises.” After his honor had charged the jury as stated, in reviewing the fourth exception, he added: “But I charge you a man has no right to take his gun and run a man off his place. That is simply taking the law into his own hands.” In this there was no error.
It is the judgment of this court, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. LIGHTSEY
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Appeal Record. — Where neither the testimony nor an agreed statement of facts appear in the “Case,” the exceptions to the charge to the jury present only abstract questions of law. 2. Assault. — There was no error in the charge in this case as to what constitutes an assault. 3. Error in Charge — Recalling Jury. — No exception lies to an error in a charge where the jury are recalled and the error corrected before verdict rendered; nor is it improper, generally, to recall the jury and withdraw an erroneous instruction. 4. Trespasser — Castle—Lands.—A man has not the same right in repelling an intruder from his outlying lands as from his castle, nor has he a right to take his gun as a means of running another from his lands.