77 Iowa 417 | Iowa | 1889
It is true, the juror had been in the midst of strong excitement, and where there was evidently a conviction as to the guilt of the defendant, as must be the case where there is talk of lynching. One expression of the
5. tostruo ' tions ^orecufendant’s wife Ms character and motives. Y. Error is assigned to the giving of the nineteenth instruction by the court, in these words: “The*jury mus^ be drawn away from the proper consideration of the charge in the indictment. The defendant is not charged in this indictment with presenting to Kingsley .an . , ° o j infamous and false charge of seducing his wife, for the purpose of extorting money, but the charge is that he fired the shot that caused the death of Kingsley; and, even though you may believe from the evidence before you that the defendant has been a man of base and degraded life, and that he was, from sordid motives of personal gain, pressing a false charge against Kingsley, or even that defendant and his wife had conspired together to extort money from him, or that the evidence shows that the defendant was guilty of other crimes not charged in this indictment, none of such considerations will warrant you in convicting the defendant of the-charge in this indictment. Nor must you allow them to have any other consideration than as showing the animus or motive of the defendant towards the deceased, and also as affecting the credit which ought to be given to his testimony and that of his wife, if she participated in any improper motive towards the
Reversed.