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31 Mo. 402

State v. Bonden

Supreme Court of Missouri

Decided January 15, 1861

Supreme Court of Missouri · decided 1861-01-15

This is the instruction given by the court at the instance of the State: “ If the jury believe the defendant, in the county of Laclede, within one year before the finding of this indictment, made a loud and unusual noise, or threatened or quarrelled or fought in the town of Lebanon, in said Laclede county, in the presence or hearing of one or more persons then in or near said town of Lebanon, and that such act or acts were wilfully done, they must find defendant guilty.” The…

Decided 1861-01-15

Napton, Judge,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2The first instruction given by the court on the trial of this case is erroneous. If the first instruction given for the defendant had been adopted as a modification of the one given for the State, there would have been no reason to suppose the jury could have been misled. But the first instruction given for the State was suffered to stand as an independent and complete proposition; the one given for the defendant was contradictory to it, and so the jury could only be perplexed as to which was to be their guide.

¶3Judgment reversed and cause remanded;

Judge Ewing concurring. Judge Scott absent.
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