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77 W. Va. 635

State v. Jones

West Virginia Supreme Court

Decided February 22, 1916

West Virginia Supreme Court · decided 1916-02-22

<p>1. Criminal Law — Writ of Error — Presentation for Review — Rulings on Evidence — Bill of Exceptions.</p> <p>Eulings of the trial court on the admissibility of evidence will not be considered on writ of erroT, unless the evidence admitted or rejected is made part of the record by special bills of exception or assigned as cause for a new trial on motion therefor, although all the evidence is made part of the record by a general bill of exceptions. (p. 636).</p> <p>8. SAME' — Refusal of Instruction Covered.</p> <p>An instruction, though correct in principle, is properly refused, where its subject matter is fully covered by other instructions given in the case. (p. 636).</p>

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently June 1955

10 state decisions

Relies on 73 W. Va. 706 - State v. Henaghan · Stewart v. Parr · 74 W. Va. 156 - Hall v. Philadelphia Co.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · Decided 1916-02-22

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LYNCH, Judge:

¶1Defendant was convicted and sentenced to two years’ confinement in the penitentiary for an attempt to commit a rape, upon an indictment charging him with actual rape. He assigns as erroneous the admission of record evidence of a former conviction for a similar offense, the rejection of evidence affecting the chastity of the prosecutrix, and misdirection of the trial jury.

¶2The rulings on evidence we can not consider. They were not made the subject of separate bills of exception, nor embodied in the motion for a new trial. Either course would have sufficed. The omission of both is fatal, notwithstanding all the testimony was made part of the record by a general bill of exceptions. Repeated decisions of this court upon the necessity of such procedure, and the consequences of failure to observe it, seem to render superfluous citation of the cases. But see State v. Henaghan, 73 W. Va. 706; Railroad v. Brown, 74 W. Va. 159; Stewart v. Parr, 74 W. Va. 327.

¶3Though correct in principle, instruction number 9 refused and number six given substantially state the same general legal proposition. But the former is erroneous in saying the only evidence of guilt was testimony of the prosecutrix. *637Other facts and circumstances corroborative of her testimony appear in the record before ns.

¶4As the proof, though meager, sufficiently showed guilt, the court did not err in entering judgment on the verdict of the jury: AYherefore the judgment is affirmed.

¶5Affirmed.

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