Guest v. State

Citations

• 96 Miss. 871
• 52 So. 211

Syllabus

<p>1. Cbiminal Law and Procedure. Manslaughter. Instructions. Definition of offense. Harmless error.</p> <p>.Where the sole question on the trial of a defendant indicted for manslaughter was whether defendant or another inflicted the fatal wound, the omission of the words, “without malice, in the heat of passion,” from an instruction for the state, otherwise in harmony with the statutory definition of the crime (Code 1906, § 1236) does not constitute reversible error.</p> <p>2. Same. Evidence. Dying declarations.</p> <p>Dying declarations to be admissible in evidence must: — ■ ’</p> <p>(а) Have been made under a realization of impending death; and</p> <p>(б) Have been made by a sane person; and</p> <p>(o) Have relation and be restricted to the homicide and attending circumstances forming a part of the res gestae.</p> <p>3. Same. Same. Same. Test of competency.</p> <p>Dying declarations, and parts of them, are incompetent unless the facts declared would be competent and relevant as the testimony of a living witness.</p> <p>4. Same. Same. Preliminary question. Reasonable doubt.</p> <p>The admissibility of dying declarations is determined by the court,. and they are inadmissible unless it be shown beyond reasonable doubt that the declarant uttered them under a realization of impending death.</p> <p>■5. Same. Prosecuting lawyers. Improper argument. District attor- ■ neys.</p> <p>District attorneys are as subject to restraint by the .court in their arguments as other lawyers.</p>