State v. Baldwin

Citations

• 15 Wash. 15
• 45 P. 650
• 1896 Wash. LEXIS 127
• 1896 WL 251

Syllabus

<p>HOMICIDE — SUFFICIENCY OF INFORMATION — PLACE OF DEATH — DYING DECLARATIONS —COMPETENCY — PAROL EVIDENCE OF MEMORANDA — INSTRUCTIONS.</p> <p>Under Laws 1891, p. 47, § 4, providing for the trial of all criminal actions in the county where the offence was committed, it is not necessary, in an information charging the commission of murder in a certain county, to also allege the place of death of the deceased, in order to give jurisdiction to the court of the county where the of-fence was committed.</p> <p>Where an information charges the commission of murder in a certain county, but fails to allege where the deceased died as a result of the assault upon him, the introduction of proof showing death in the county in which the assault was made is harmless error.</p> <p>The constitutional provision declaring that the accused shall have the right to meet the witnesses against him face to face, will not exclude evidence of dying declarations.</p> <p>Proof of conviction of an infamous crime may be given to affect the credibility of one making dying declarations, but cannot be urged as a ground for their exclusion.</p> <p>The fact that, for some days after deceased had been shot, he had-no fear of impending death, is not ground for excluding his dying declarations, when it appears that at the time they were made, his condition had grown more serious, and he had been told by the doctor he was about to die, and had said that he.realized it.</p> <p>Where a dying declaration has been made to an attorney, who afterwards, not in the presence of the deceased, reduced it to writing, but not always in the language of the deceased, even including incorrect statements in one or two minor matters, and the declaration is subsequently read to the deceased and signed by him, it is still admissible in evidence, as a question for the jury to pass upon.</p> <p>The fact that notice had been served upon the state to produce a certain memorandum book at the trial of a .criminal prosecution, whi