State v. Regan

Citations

• 8 Wash. 506
• 36 P. 472
• 1894 Wash. LEXIS 99

Syllabus

<p>HOMICIDE — INFORMATION — FAILURE TO INDORSE STATE’S WITNESSES — EVIDENCE — CONVERSATIONS — GENERAL REPUTATION— IMPROPER ARGUMENT OF COUNSEL — EXCEPTIONS.</p> <p>Where it does not appear that the defendant in a criminal prosecution was prejudiced by the fact that the names of the witnesses offered in rebuttal by the state were not indorsed upon the information, and no continuance was asked for on that ground,- the error will be held harmless.</p> <p>An information charged that the defendant “did feloniously, purposely and maliciously make an assault .on one Edward Guthrie, and with a certain knife which he, the said defendant, then and there had and held in his hand, did then and there feloniously, purposely and maliciously strike, stab, thrust and cut at, upon and into the said Edward Guthrie, inflicting upon the said Edward Guthrie one mortal wound, of which mortal wound the said Edward Guthrie then and there died.” Held, That the information was not bad for duplicity; that it charged acts constituting a crime; that it alleged the killing was done by means of a knife in the hands of defendant, and that a knife is prima facie presumed to be a deadly weapon.</p> <p>Where a portion of a conversation has been drawn out in the examination of a witness, the opposing party is entitled to have the whole of it placed before the jury.</p> <p>The refusal of the court to strike out improper remarks of counsel at the time, of their utterance is harmless error, where the court later instructs the jury to disregard them.</p> <p>No error can be founded upon improper argument of counsel where no motion is made to strike it, or the court asked to instruct the jury to disregard it.</p> <p>General reputation cannot be proved by the testimony of a witness whose information is based on the story of one person.</p>