Pitts v. State

Citations

• 43 Miss. 472
• 2 Morr. St. Cas. 1655

Syllabus

<p>Í. Homicide — Corpus Delicti. — In oases of felonious homicide, the corpus delicti Consists of two fundamental and necessary facts: First, the death; and secondly, the existence of criminal agency as its cause.</p> <p>2. Proof of Corpus Delicti__The death must he proved by direct testimony, or by presumptive evidence of the strongest kind, and the criminal agency may then he established by presumptive reasoning upon all the facts and circumstances of the case.</p> <p>3. Testimony of Experts. — When the dead body or remains have been discovered and identified, and the immediate cause of death remains unknown, the sworn observations and opinions of physicians, surgeons, chemists and other scientific persons who have examined the body or remains, are often of the greatest value as testimony explaining the means of death. ‘</p> <p>4. Confessions. — Facts ascertained by reason of a confession maybe considered in establishing the corpus delicti; but a confession not made in open court, or before the examining magistrate, but, to an individual, uncorroborated by circumstances, ^.nd without proof, aliunde, that a crime has beon committed, will not justify conviction ; but the corpus delicti must he proved independently of extra-judicial confessions, and beyond reasonable doubt; and without such proof of the corpus delicti, evidence of the confession is inadmissible at the trial. Stringfellow v. the State, 26 Miss. B., 157, cited and approved.</p> <p>5. Poisoning — Circumstantial Evidence. — Where a person of generally good health dies suddenly, and the symptoms andappearances indicate narcotic poison of Jamestown weed or stramonium, but are similar also to symptoms common to disease of the heart, or congestion of the brain or stomach, and the testimony and opinions of several physicians who examined the stomach and contents, without any analysis, is conflicting and leave it in doubt, with the probabilities equally balanced, whether the deceased died of poison or of disea