Pederre v. State

Citations

• 99 Miss. 171
• 54 So. 721

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal Law. Or edibility of witnesses. Evidence. Instructions.</p> <p>Where one of the witnesses for the state was employed as a detective to report “blind tigers,” and testified that he was working for a salary and that the amount he was to receive did not depend upon the number of cases reported by him, but defendant proved that such witness had received one hundred dollars for nine cases of detective work, and offered to introduce an account filed by the witness with the board of aldermen, upon which said amount was allowed. It was error for the court to refuse to allow this account to be introduced as this might have materially affected his credibility with the jury.</p> <p>2. Instructions. Weight of evidence.</p> <p>An instruction for the state is erroneous which tells the jury, “That they are not authorized under the law to disregard the testimony of the witness merely because he is employed as a detective, but they must give the testimony of such witness the same credence as that of any other witness, unless they believe from the testimony that such witness has knowingly and corruptly sworn falsely to a material fact in issue,” as being upon the weight of evidence and the credibility of witnesses, which are matters peculiarly within the province of the jury, whose judgment should not be influenced by the views of the court in relation thereto.</p>