155 Ala. 1
Decided May 14, 1908
Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1908-05-14
Murder. Appeal from Blount Circuit Court. Heard before Hon. John W. Inzer. Walter Jones ivas convicted of manslaughter, and he appeals. Fairly and Bramlett were permitted to testify over the objection of defendant that the death of deceased was caused by a wound in the stomach produced by a pistol ball fired from the pistol of the defendant.
Key passage — most relied on by later courts
““The defendant was convicted of man-' slaughter for the killing of one Will Smith. Witnesses Fairley and Bramlett, neither of whom were shown to be experts, were permitted to testify against defendant’s objection that in their opinion the wound received by Smith in the stomach, made by a pistol ball fired by defendant caused his death. In this there was error. Only an expert could testify to the fatality of such a wound. ’ “Reversed and remanded.””
quoted by 2 later decisions, including 34 Ala. App. 18 - Scott v. State, 31 Ala. App. 376 - Daniel v. State
Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know
Reversed and remanded · Decided 1908-05-14
Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently June 1985
12 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
View the full empirical analysis of this case →
¶1The defendant was convicted of manslaughter for the killing of one Will Smith. Witnesses *2Fairley and Bramlett, neither of whom were shown to be experts, were permitted to testify against defendant’s objection that in their opinion the wound received by Smith in the stomach, made by a pistol ball fired by defendant caused his death. In this there was error. Only an expert could testify to the fatality of such a wound.
¶2Reversed and remanded.