State v. Lyons

Citations

• 113 La. 959
• 37 So. 890
• 1904 La. LEXIS 719

Syllabus

<p>CRIMINAL LAW — OPINION EVIDENCE — STATEMENTS OF ACCUSED — PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATIONS — EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES — MURDER — INSANITY AS A DEFENSE — EXPERT TESTIMONY — INSTRUCTIONS — CREDIBILITY OF WITNESSES — INSANITY AFTER CONVICTION.</p> <p>1. It is not necessary that a witness in a prosecution for murder should have qualified as a medical expert in order that he may be heard to testify as to the passage of a bullet through the heart and liver of the deceased, where it appears that he assisted in the autopsy, is giving the result of his personal observation, and is able to identify the organs mentioned, as such, from having seen them taken from the body of the deceased.</p> <p>2. A person under arrest upon a criminal charge is not obliged to answer questions, but he may do so if he thinks proper, and the mere fact that he answers or makes statements whilst under arrest does not necessitate the exclusion of such answers or statements as evidence on the trial.</p> <p>3. It does not follow, because a physician visits a person with whom he is acquainted, and who, being charged with murder, is lying in a hospital, under treatment for a wound, that such visit is paid in a professional capacity, or that the relation of physician and patient is thereby established between them.</p> <p>4. A state witness having been asked on cross-examination whether the accused was under the influence of opiates at a particular time, the objection to a similar question propounded by the district attorney on redirect examination, that the witness had not qualified as an expert, was properly overruled.</p> <p>5. If a question, though leading, leads to nothing to the prejudice of the accused, there is no good ground of complaint on his part-</p> <p>6. A witness upon redirect examination may be asked to explain what he intended to convey by answers given on cross-examination.</p> <p>7. Where a witness who, as a member of a coroner’s jury, has participated in an autopsy, and in a finding, whi