State v. Gaunt

Citations

• 98 Kan. 186
• 157 P. 447
• 1916 Kan. LEXIS 43

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Homicide — Evidence — Reputation of Defendant — Instructions. The defendant, in a criminal case, having offered no evidence regarding his reputation, no error is committed in refusing instructions to the effect that his character is presumed to be good and that this presumption is the equivalent of evidence, particularly where the court had instructed that he was to be regarded as of good character except so far as his own testimony might show the contrary.</p> <p>2. Same — Trial—Instructions. The refusal of various instructions in a homicide case held not to have been erroneous.</p> <p>3. Same — Witness—Child Five Years Old — Weight of Evidence. Whether a child of five years is competent to testify is ordinarily a question for the final determination of the trial court. The testimony of such a witness having been admitted it is proper to submit to the jury the question of the weight to be given it.</p> <p>4. Same. Where proper instructions are given regarding the consideration of the testimony of a five-year-old witness, it is not error to omit to refer .specifically to that of another witness seven years of age, that matter being covered by the general charge.</p> <p>5. Homicide — Dying Statements of Deceased. In a prosecution for homicide it is not error to refuse a request for an instruction that the jury should consider the omission of the state to produce a dying statement of the deceased where the only evidence on this subject indicates that none was made.</p> <p>6. Same — Cross-examination. The discretion of the court in relation to the cross-examination by the defendant of his own'witness held not to have been abused.</p> <p>7. Same — Evidence—Bad Reputation of Deceased. In a prosecution for homicide, the state having admitted the bad reputation of the person killed, with respect to being peaceable and law-abiding, no error was committed in sustaining its objection to evidence that he had been divorced for adultery and cr