Collins v. State

Citations

• 100 Miss. 435
• 56 So. 527

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal Law. Trial. Argument of counsel. Duty of court.</p> <p>In the trial of a negro for the murder of another negro it was error for the prosecuting attorney in his argument to the jury to say “this bad nigger killed a good nigger. The dead nigger was a white man’s nigger, and these bad niggers like to kill that kind. The only way you can break up this pistol toting among these niggers is to have a necktie party.”</p> <p>2. Same.</p> <p>In such a case where defendant’s attorney had stated in his argument that one of the witnesses for the state had assisted in hiring a special prosecutor and was taking an interest in the case, such a remark did not justify the court in permitting the prosecuting attorney to say, “I will tell you who employed me to prosecute this nigger. It was the people of the community, white and black,” as such a statement tended to show that public sentiment was against the accused.</p> <p>3. Same.</p> <p>It was the duty of the trial judge of his own motion to have instructed the jury that such remarks were improper and that they in their deliberations should not be governed by any such statements made by the prosecuting officer.</p>