35 S.C. 279 | S.C. | 1892
The opinion of the court was delivered by
At the April term, 1891, for Aiken County, a true bill was found upon an indictment against Mingo Peterson, Jordan Robertson, Joshua Schofield, and George Quattlebaurn for grand larceny in stealing seed cotton from W. N. Jones, in said county, on December 6th, 1890. At the June term, 1891, Mingo Peterson and Jordan Robertson were put on trial before Judge Norton and a jury, and being convicted of grand larceny, were sentenced by Judge Norton to two years at hard labor in the penitentiary. Mingo Peterson alone appeals to this court.
In the arraignment and challenge of jurors, the defendants divided and differed in the exercise of their respective challenges. Among the witnesses produced by the State was one July Hymes, who'admitted that he was an accomplice with the defendants. He testified directly to the complicity of the defendants in the theft. There were facts and circumstances testified to on the part of the State which the State claimed corroborated Hymes, and there were other facts testified to on the part of the defendant Peterson, which he claimed contradicted the aforesaid facts and circumstances testified to on the part of the State. When the defendant Peterson announced that he had rested his case, the judge called upon the defendant Robertson to produce his
Mingo Peterson excepted to the rulings of his honor, Judge Norton, and asks for a new trial on the following grounds: “1. Because it is submitted that his honor erred in allowing the defendant Robertson to testify as a witness in this case, it having been shown by the production of the record, that he had been convicted of highway robbery. 2. Because it is submitted that' his honor erred in not charging the jury as requested by the defendant Peterson, ‘that the jury are advised not to convict the defendant, Mingo Peterson, simply upon the testimony of the witness Hymes, admitted to be an accomplice; and that unless they find from the evidence that Hymes is corroborated by other evidence bearing upon the material question in the case, to wit, whether Peterson stole the cotton in question, then they ought to acquit him; and that in this matter, as in all others, Peterson is entitled to the benefit of every reasonable doubt.’ 3.' Because it is submitted that his honor erred in charging the jury as follows, ‘You are the exclusive judges of the credibility of witnesses, and may, even upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice, convict, provided you are satisfied of the truthfulness of his testimony. Your sound judgment will, no doubt, suggest what suspicion should attach to his testimony, and what corrobo
In the case of the Stale v. Robertson (26 S. C., 119), it was held that a defendant, who testifies in his own behalf as permitted by the statute, thereby subjects himself to all the incidents of a regular witness, and his general reputation for veracity may be assailed; that he is subject to the “usual duties, liabilities, and limitations of witnesses.” This being so, wrhy should Robertson be exempt from the rule as to infamy which is applied to other witnesses, at least as to other persons, even a co-defendant? His incapacity was general, and only superseded by his exercis
From the view' we take it will not be necessary to consider the other exceptions in regard to the testimony of an accomplice.
The judgment of this court is, that the judgment of the Circuit Court be reversed, and the case remanded to that court for a new' trial.