State v. Williams

Citations

• 124 La. 673
• 50 So. 648
• 1909 La. LEXIS 524

Syllabus

<p>Criminal Law (§ 721*) — Trial—Argument of District Attorney.</p> <p>The district attorney, in his argument to the jury, said: “The accused himself has testified that he jumped the fence, as testified to by one of the state witnesses.” To which it was objected that the accused had not so testified. Whereupon the district attorney explained that he was speaking figuratively, and what he meant was that the accused had _ admitted to the deputy sheriff that he had jumped the fence, and the deputy sheriff had testified to that fact, and therefore, figuratively, the accused had testified, through the deputy sheriff. “I could not have meant” (the district attorney proceeded to say) “that the accused had testified to that fact, because the accused has not testified at all. You know that he has not been on the stand.” Held, that the remarks of the district attorney implied no unfavorable construction of the failure of the accused to testify in his own behalf, and were not violative of either the letter or the spirit of the provision of Act No. 29, p. 39, of 1886, which reads: “And provided, further, that his failure to testify shall not be construed for or against him, but all testimony shall be weighed and considered according to the general rules of evidence, and the trial judge shall so charge the jury.”</p> <p>(Syllabus by the Court.)</p>