State v. Norton

Citations

• 28 S.C. 572
• 6 S.E. 820
• 1888 S.C. LEXIS 88

Syllabus

<p>1.. Deceased was shot while in an altercation with A, and thereupon B came up and stabbed deceased. In an indictment against A and B for the murder of deceased, there is no objection to a joinder of counts — one charging that A committed the murder with a pistol and that B was present and assisting, and the other that B committed the murder with a knife, and that A was present and assisting.</p> <p>2. The trial judge having intimated to the jury his opinion that a witness for the prosecution was more reliable than others for the defence, and that the plea of self defence was improbable, a new trial was granted.</p> <p>3. It was error, under the facts of this case, to charge the jury that there was no room here for a verdict of manslaughter.</p> <p>4. In stating to the jury that witnesses are examined in the presence of the prisoner in order that he may stop and correct them upon a false statement, the trial judge committed an error which may have prejudiced the prisoner’s case before the jury.</p>