52 Ala. 370 | Ala. | 1875
It is peculiarly the province of the jury to draw deductions or inferences from facts, and it is sel
II. The court did not err in refusing to allow the defendants to show the “ bad character ” of those in charge of the yard and press. It is expressly stated that they were not witnesses or charged with the theft, or otherwise connected with the case. Such an issue was wholly foreign to that on trial. The proof offered would have needlessly incumbered the case, served to distract the attention of the jury from the main points involved, and ■ have uselessly wasted the public time. It would be a dangerous precedent to allow a defendant to take up the time of the court in showing that parties living near the scene of the crime, or who had an opportunity to commit it, were of bad character; there often would be no end to the inquiries thus submitted to the jury, and the trial of criminal cases could thereby be protracted, sometimes beyond the term during which the court is authorized to sit. The evidence was inadmissible for another reason. It did not show whether the bad character was as to truth and veracity, or for honesty. If the proposed evidence was as to the character for truth and veracity, it would clearly be inadmissible, where the parties referred to were not witnesses or otherwise connected with the case, even if we could hold that evidence of bad character for honesty was admissible.
III. There is nothing in the error assigned as to the charge of the court. Under the evidence in this ease the structure mentioned was a “warehouse,” within the meaning of § 3707 of the Revised Code. Hagan et al v. State, in MS. Besides
The judgment of the court below is affirmed.