State v. Eddon

Citations

• 8 Wash. 292
• 36 P. 139
• 1894 Wash. LEXIS 55

Syllabus

<p>HOMICIDE— EVIDENCE — GOOD CHARACTER OE DECEASED — DYING DECLARATIONS — WEIGHT OE — PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES TO JURORS — METHOD OE EXERCISING.</p> <p>In a prosecution for homicide it is not competent to show the peaceable disposition or character of the deceased, or his good reputation, unless it has been assailed by the defense, although proof of the good character of the defendant may have been put in evidence. (Hoyt and Scott, JJ., dissent.)</p> <p>The dying declaration of deceased calling witnesses to note the fact that he was unarmed is inadmissible as a part of the res gestee.</p> <p>An instruction that when dying declarations are before the jury they are to be treated as the other evidence in the case, is erroneous, as the same weight should not be attached to such testimony as to that of witnesses who can be subjected to cross-examination.</p> <p>Construing all the statutory provisions together on the subject of challenges to jurors, the defendant must, in a prosecution for homicide, exercise two peremptory challenges to one by the state, until the twelve and six peremptory challenges allowed them respectively are exhausted.</p>