Schwartz v. State

Citations

• 103 Miss. 711
• 60 So. 732

Syllabus

<p>1. Jury. Competency. Opinion. Criminal law. Appeal. Trial. Presence of accused. Yerdict. Presence of counsel. Code 1906, section 4636. Constitution 1890, section 26.</p> <p>A juror is not incompetent as having a fixed opinion where the evidence on his voir dire examination showed he simply had an impression as to the guilt or innocence of the accused derived chiefly, if not entirely, from press accounts of the crime.</p> <p>2. Criminal Law. Conduct of trial. Presence of accused. Code 1906, section 4636.</p> <p>Under Code 1906, section 4636, so providing, the supreme court will not reverse a case on appeal because the record fails to. show that accused was present when the jury was impanneled.</p> <p>3. Constitution 1890, section 26. Counsel. Conduct of trial.</p> <p>Under section 26, Constitution 1890, so providing, the accused in a criminal prosecution has “a right to be heard by himself, or counsel or both;” and these rights cannot be denied or abridged, nor can the courts require the accused to secure counsel, or impose counsel upon him, unless he request the court to appoint counsel.</p> <p>L Criminal Law. Conduct of trial. Presence of counsel.</p> <p>Where on the.trial of accused for murder his counsel absented himself and refused or neglected to come into court when the jury returned their verdict and no request was made by the accused that he be permitted to have his counsel present before the verdict was received or sentence imposed upon him, it was not error for the court to receive the verdict and impose sentence in the absence of counsel for the accused and he was not thereby denied any right guaranteed him by the Constitution or the laws.</p>