Johnson v. State

Citations

• 17 Ala. 618

Syllabus

<p>1. Representations, made by a sink person to a medical attendant, of the nature, symptoms, and effects of the malady, under which he is labor- ' ing, are admissible as original evidence.</p> <p>2. The deceased was poisoned on Sunday and from that time until Tuesday evening, when she died, suffered severely from a burning pain in the • stomach and bowels. On Sunday night, on Monday, and on Tuesday ■ just before she made a declaration, she used such expressions as, “ I cam-not stay here — I must go — good people, I am gone,” and her medical attendant considered her in extremis from Tuesday morning until she died. Between nine o’clock, A. M. and noon on Tuesday, she asked her medical attendant if he could help hereto which he replied, he thought ' he could. Held — That the inquiry and reply, taken in connection with ■ such strong evidences of a sense of impending death, do not prove any thing, beyond the hope of present ease or relief, and are insufficient tf> exclude the declaration of-the deceased.</p> <p>S.The statement by the.deceased of a distinct-fact, in no way connected with the circumstances of the death, or the immediate cause of it, is not admissible as a dying declaration.</p> <p>4. Where a written instrument contains both legal and illegal evidence, the court cannot be required to expunge that which is illegal. If the • court points out to the jury the illegal testimony and designates it ip such a way that the jury can identify it, it is all that can be required.</p> <p>5. It is not competent for a witness to give his opinion as to how a person looked at a particular time, as that he -looked serious, but he should state the evidences of his mental condition, as that he was habitually lively, but on that occasion was silent, or the like.</p> <p>6. Silence, indicating unusual seriousness^ on the part of one charged as a participant, at or about the time of the commission of the crime, i# ■ a fact from which a guilty knowledge may be infered, and evidence