Williams v. State

Citations

• 73 Miss. 820

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal Law.- Reasonable doubt Erroneous instruction.</p> <p>It is error to instruct the jury in a trial for murder that an abiding conviction of the guilt of the defendant or full satisfaction of the truth of the charge, is equivalent to belief of his g'uilt beyond a reasonable doubt.</p> <p>3. Same. Evidence. Cross-examination.. Contradictory testimony.</p> <p>It is error to admit testimony to contradict that of a witness for the opposite party drawn out on cross-examination, unless the testimony sought to be contradicted is of a substantive nature and relevant to the issue, and not merely collateral thereto.</p> <p>3. Same. Collateral matters. Test of admissibility.</p> <p>If the testimony of a witness on cross-examination in respect to a matter not brought out on the direct examination is such that it would not be competent if offered by the cross-examiner, the same is collateral, and cannot be contradicted.</p> <p>4. Same. Case.</p> <p>When a witness for the defendant in a murder trial has denied, on cross-examination, that she said to the wife of the deceased, beside his dead body, on the day of the homicide, in the presence of certain persons named, “I sent you word not to let your husband come down here. They made up a plot to kill him three weeks ago,” such testimony being- wholly incompetent, it was error to allow the state to introduce the contradictory testimony of one of the persons named as present at the time.</p>