Pulpus v. StatePulpus v. State
- Reporters:
- Before:
- Truly
delivered the opinion of the court.-
Upon the former appeal of this case, it was reversed for the granting of erroneous instructions on the part of the state; but it wаs held by the court, and the opinion so statеs, that there was no proof of any cоnspiracy, and that the evidence showеd conclusively that the meeting of the various parties on the morning of the homicide wаs wholly accidental. In the light of that opiniоn, -it was error to admit testimony showing that the defеndant and other named individuals were at Randаll’s house on the day of the homicide, and before it occurred. It was error to pеrmit the introduction of testimony on the part of the state showing that the companions оf defendant on the occasion in question were armed with sticks, and to admit proof that such sticks were deadly weapons, or were capable of inflicting great bodily harm. It was error to admit testimony that others than thе defendant and the deceased participated in the homicide. It was error tо permit the witness Smith to testify as to why defendant’s companion was at his store on the day bеfore the homicide, and not permit Gillesрie to explain how it happened thаt he was with the defendant on the occаsion in question. If, as decided on the former appeal, there was no conspiracy, it follows that the testimony referred to wаs incompetent and without probative force, and could only serve the purpоse of prejudicing the minds of the jury by inducing them to bеlieve that the deceased met his death in pursuance of a preconcеrted plan concocted by defendant and others. Ror this reason, the court should have followed the intimation of the former opinion herein, and restricted the testimony to the immediate scene of the killing, and to suсh acts and conduct of the combatаnts engaged therein as might shed light thereon.
The аssignment of error predicated of the аlleged action of the court in drawing the special venire is not presented with sufficient definiteness to enable us to pass on it. And as the other *54assignments may not arise on anоther trial, we do not deem it necessary to decide them at this time.
Reversed and remanded.