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72 Ark. 569

Davis v. State

Supreme Court of Arkansas

Decided July 2, 1904

Supreme Court of Arkansas · decided 1904-07-02

Antonio B. Grace, Judge. STATEMENT BY THE COURT. The appellant was indicted for assault with intent to kill Henry Jones, pleaded not guilty, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary for one year. He filed a motion for new trial, which was overruled, and he excepted and appealed to the supreme court.

Relies on Polk v. State · Mabry v. State · Smith v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Reversed · Decided 1904-07-02

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently January 1984

7 state decisions

40190419101920193019401950196019701980decided

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.

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Hughes, J.

¶1(after stating the facts). We are of the opinion that the court should have given instruction No. 5 asked by the appellant and refused by the court. We think it was correct, and should have been given in this case, as it seems from the evidence that, had death ensued from the assault, the appellant might not have been guilty of murder, and that he might have been found guilty of an aggravated assault only, or some degree of crime less than murder. We understand that, before a party can be guilty of assault with intent to kill, the evidence must show that, had death resulted from the assault, it would have been murder. The instruction as given, seemed to indicate to the jury that the appellant was guilty of assault with intent to kill, or not guilty at all.

¶2There should be in such a case as this no intimation of opinion by the court in its charge to the jury of the weight of the evidence. This is for the jury. Flynn v. State, 43 Ark. 294. See also Polk v. State, 45 Ark. 165; Stephens v. Oppenheimer, 45 Ark. 492; Smith v. State, 50 Ark. 545; Mabry v. State, 50 Ark. 500.

¶3For the error indicated the judgment is reversed, and the cause is remanded for a new trial.

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