State v. Daniels

Citations

• 115 La. 60
• 38 So. 894
• 1905 La. LEXIS 615

Syllabus

<p>MANSLAUGHTER — EVIDENCE — DYING DECLARATION — ADMISSIBILITY— OODEEENDANTS.</p> <p>1. To authorize the admission in evidence, in a prosecution for manslaughter, of an ante mortem statement, as a dying declaration, the state must prove that the deceased was in ex-tremis, that he was fully conscious of his condition, and that he made the declaration under a sense of impending death, and after having abandoned all hope or expectation of recovery.</p> <p>^ 2. Where the question is one of life and death, to a man presumably in good health, who has been suddenly stricken down by a gunshot wound, who has still something to live for, and whose mind is shown to have been busy with the idea of prosecuting those by whom he had been injured, proof that the last spark of hope has left his breast can hardly be considered convincing unless it comes in the form of a specific admission to that effect, by word or sign, from the man himself, since no one else •can know.</p> <p>3. It does not follow, because a man who, having been shot, and having been told by his attending physician that he (the physician) cannot cure him, makes no reply, and upon another occasion pleads to his Maker for mercy, and is downcast in appearance, that he is therefore convinced that death is imminent, and that he has abandoned all hope of recovery. There are persons who pray for mercy and are downcast in appearance as the result of trifling visitations.</p> <p>4. Where three persons are being prosecuted at the same time and under the same indictment, the jury ought to be instructed that one or two may be convicted or acquitted without the conviction or acquittal of the other or others.</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>