State v. Wilcox

Citations

• 90 Kan. 80
• 132 P. 982
• 9 A.L.R. 1091
• 1913 Kan. LEXIS 166

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Criminal Libel — Information—Copies of Affidavits Attached —Information Sufficient. Where copies of affidavits which purport to have been sworn to before a notary public on a certain date are attached to an information which charges a criminal libel based thereon, the information sufficiently sets forth the manner and' time of the publication.</p> <p>2. - Subsequent Publications — Parts of Bes Gestas — Evidence of Malice. In a prosecution against several persons for criminal libel evidence of publications made subsequent to the one relied upon by the state, which appear to have been so connected with the main purpose as to make them parts of the res gestae, are admissible as proof of malice, and where it is claimed that the several defendants conspired and conféderated together for the purpose of committing the offense such evidence is admissible, as tending to establish the conspiracy.</p> <p>:3. -- — : Communications Made in Furtherance of Conspiracy —Not Privileged. The general rule that communications made to a prosecuting officer are privileged when made in good faith, in the prosecution of an inquiry regarding a crime which has been committed, can not be successfully invoked by the defendants in an action for criminal libel where the communications were made to the prosecuting officer in furtherance of a conspiracy to commit an indictable offense.</p> <p>•4. Libel — Whether Privileged — Mixed Question of Fact and Law. Under the facts stated in the opinion, the-question of qualified privilege became a mixed question of fact and of law, and the court properly admitted evidence of the communications and submitted to the jury the question whether the same were privileged, admonishing them that they should wholly disregard the communications unless they found from the evidence that when the communications were made to the prosecuting officer the defendants knew them to be false and. knew that no offense had been committed, but ma