State v. Pepoon

Citations

• 62 Wash. 635
• 114 P. 449
• 1911 Wash. LEXIS 759

Syllabus

<p>Indictment and Information — Oath of Prosecuting Attorney— Affidavit. Where an information is duly sworn to in an affidavit by the prosecuting attorney, who takes oath that he is the prosecuting attorney and that the information is true, it is sufficient without reciting that the averments were made on the oath of the prosecuting attorney.</p> <p>Criminal Law — Trial—Misconduct of Counsel — Argument— Appeal — Harmless Error. Bern. & Bal. Code, § 339, providing that no argument shall be allowed in the opening statement, is not violated by a lengthy and detailed statement of the facts, even if some slight inferences are drawn; and no prejudice results where counsel desisted on objection made, and nothing was said not fully justified by the testimony produced.</p> <p>Homicide — Degrees of Offense — Instructions. In a prosecution for murder, the right of the jury to determine the degree of the offense given by statute must be based on the evidence, and the court need not instruct thereon, where there was no evidence tending to show the commission of the lesser offenses.</p> <p>Same — Evidence of Lesser Offense.s — Sufficiency. In a prosecution for murder in the first degree by poisoning, there is no evidence to warrant instructions upon second degree murder or manslaughter, where it appears that the deceased was of unsound mind and in a highly nervous condition, and either in an attempt to allay such condition or to murder her, the defendants consulted as to the medicines to be given her, and administered the poison; since they were guilty of first degree murder or not at all.</p> <p>Homicide — Verdict—Degrees of Offense. A verdict of guilty as charged is sufficient in a prosecution for murder in the first degree, although the jury is required to find the degree.</p> <p>Homicide — Trial—Variance. Upon an information for murder by administering poison on the 27th day of August, which caused the deceased to languish and die, it is not a variance to prove the deceased c