15 Kan. 407 | Kan. | 1875
■The opinion of the court was delivered by
The appellant wás tried for the murder of Thomas Anderson, and found guilty of murder in the second degree, and brings the-case to this court by appeal. In the argument attention is called to two errors of the court below. These alleged errors are, first, in not granting the
Did the court err in refusing to order a change of venue? The application was supported by the affidavits of the appellant, the sheriff, and the acting jailor of the county. These affidavits made out a prima fade case for removal, but the state read a great number (over ninety) affidavits, from citizens of each of the townships of the county, abundantly showing that there was no such state of feeling generally prevailing throughout the county as would prevent the accused from having a fair and impartial trial therein, or would even make it difficult to obtain an.impartial jury for the trial. Outside the village of Brookville, where the accused and the deceased had resided, and been generally known, there seems to have been no more feeling than usually prevails in any community where there is a homicide. Two lives were taken by violence. The better feelings of men were shocked by the event. Some intemperance of expression may be expected in such cases from men; but it is obvious, that where that feeling existed, it created no strong prejudice against the accused. The extracts from the two papers at Salina, while they in several important respects stated the facts more harshly against the accused than the testimony justified, yet they at the same time cautioned their readers that the statements made were gathered from reports, and must not be considered as being reliable, and that it was the duty of all to wait till the case was heard before forming their opinions. With this caution before the reader, the mistakes as to the facts would hardly create a prejudice against the accused in the minds of fair men. There were articles in the Brook-ville paper strongly tending to inflame the public mind, and perhaps so intended; but that paper had little circulation in the county outside of Brookville, and in several of the townships was not known at all. Following the decision in the case of The State v. Horne, 9 Kas. 119, we are of the opinion that there was no error in refusing a change of venue.