State v. McAnarney

Citations

• 70 Kan. 679
• 79 P. 137
• 1905 Kan. LEXIS 29

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Homicide — Instructions Respecting All the Degrees. In a prosecution for murder, where there is no direct evidence of the manner of the killing, and the evidence introduced against the defendant is wholly circumstantial, and open to the inference by a jury that the offense committed may have been among the several lower degrees of that charge, it is the duty of the court, upon request, to instruct the jury respecting all the degrees of homicide, it being the province of the jury, and not of the court, to determine the degree, if any, of which the defendant is guilty.</p> <p>2. -Instructions in Case at Bar. Herein it is held, that the evidence required the court to charge the jury respecting the first and fourth degrees of manslaughter.</p> <p>8. - Chemical and Microscopic Examination — Incompetent Expert Testimony. Pieces of the trousers worn by defendant at the time of the alleged homicide were cut out, macerated, and a chemical and microscopic examination of the mixture made by an expert, to find whether there was blood on the garment. The expert testified that a minute quantity of blood was found. After the garment was taken from the defendant it was put into a sack with the bloody clothing of the deceased, and with other articles covered with blood, and all were carried together a considerable distance in a wagon, and kept together until the test was made. Held, that the result of the test was not admissible to prove there was blood on the garment when last worn by the defendant.</p> <p>4. - Essentials to the Admission of Expert Testimony. Two things are essential to the admission of such evidence: (1) The identity of the thing analyzed and examined with that which is the subject of the inquiry; (2) that it has not been tampered or interfered with between the time when its condition is in question and the time of the expert examination.</p> <p>5. -Inadvertent Interference. The inadvertent or accidental interference with the th