State v. Humphreys

Citations

• 118 Wash. 472
• 203 P. 965
• 1922 Wash. LEXIS 671

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law (101) — Evidence—Res Gestae. In a prosecution for the larceny of a quantity of wheat, the testimony of the owner that the defendant voluntarily came to him and offered to pay for the wheat, to which he replied he was not selling wheat, he had been robbed three times and that he wanted this one run down, was admissible as part of the conversation in answer to defendant’s offer.</p> <p>Appeal (445) — Review—Harmless Error — Misconduct of Counsel. Improper cross-examination by the prosecuting attorney to which objection is promptly sustained by the court, is harmless error.</p> <p>Criminal Law (345)' — Motions for New Trial — Misconduct of Counsel. The denial of a new trial on the ground of improper and prejudicial language of the prosecuting attorney was not an abuse of the court’s discretion, where objection to the language was sustained, the counsel admonished, and the jury instructed to disregard it.</p> <p>Larceny (39) — Trial—Instructions — Possession. An instruction that defendant’s possession of stolen property, if the jury so find, is not of itself sufficient to justify a conviction of larceny, but defendant’s possession thereof is a circumstance which may be taken in connection with all the other circumstances and facts in the case, is not erroneous in that it did not further state that the possession was personal, not simply constructive.</p> <p>Criminal Law (250) — Trial—Province of Court and Jury— Weight of Evidence. A requested instruction that if the jury should be satisfied from the evidence that defendant’s offer to pay for the stolen wheat, without admitting its larceny, was for the purpose of avoiding publicity, that circumstance should not be regarded as evidence of guilt was properly refused, since the value of such testimony was for the jury.</p> <p>Criminal Law (277) — Trial—Instructions—Character. The refusal of á requested instruction in a prosecution for larceny to the effect that evidence of good character may of itself be suf