Wilson v. State

Citations

• 71 Miss. 880

Syllabus

<p>1. Accomplice; Testimony of. Sufficiency of to convict.</p> <p>A conviction may be had on the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice.</p> <p>2. Same. Instruction. Caution. Discretion as to terms used.</p> <p>It is sufficient to instruct for defendant that the testimony of an accomplice is to be received and considered with caution; and it must, in large measure, be left to the trial court to choose the language in which the caution shall be given. Cheatham v. State, 67 Miss., 335, cited.</p> <p>3. Same. Caution; not jealousy and distrust. Instruction.</p> <p>Where the court refuses to instruct for defendant that the testimony of an accomplice is to be considered with jealousy and distrust, but gives instructions announcing that such testimony should be weighed with great care and caution, and that the jury may disregard it altogether, if believed to be untrue, the accused has no cause to compiain.</p> <p>4. Instruction. Singling out facts. Gonneated evidence considered.</p> <p>It is proper to refuse instructions that certain designated facts proved are not evidence of guilt, where such facts (though in themselves not such evidence), when taken with others, tend to show the guilt of defendant.</p> <p>5. Same. Abstract proposition. Useless charge. Refusal proper.</p> <p>An instruction that “ the jury can look to no material fact or circumstance to establish another fact or circumstance, unless the fact or circumstance looked to or relied upon has first been established to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt,” is properly refused, as not easily intelligible, and of no practical use.</p>