61 Miss. 22
Decided October 15, 1883
Mississippi Supreme Court · decided 1883-10-15
Hon. A. Gr. Mayers, Judge. At the trial of this indictment for murder, Mary Nicholson testified, for the State, that, when she was in jail with the accused, one morning after breakfast, they were sitting by the stove, and Betsy Ledbetter, in speaking about being there for killing a woman, said : “ If I did kill a woman, I’ll do it again; if I get out of here I’ll kill another one, for they are all against me up there.” It transpired on cross-examination that Mary was…
Relies on Hogan v. State
Decided 1883-10-15
¶1delivered the opinion of the court.
¶2The delaration made by the accused to the witness, Mary Nicholson, that if she had killed one woman she would kill another, was of an equivocal character. It was error for the court to assume, as was done in the ninth instruction for the State, that this was an “admission or confession” of the accused. Hogan v. State, 46 Miss. 274.
¶3Reversed.