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93 Miss. 419

Litford v. State

Mississippi Supreme Court

Decided October 15, 1908

Mississippi Supreme Court · decided 1908-10-15

Brom the circuit court of Tuuica county. Hon. John C. Bryson, Special Judge. Litford, appellant, was indicted, tried and convicted of the murder of Charles Moody, sentenced to suffer death and appealed to the supreme court. The principle assignment of error was predicated of the action of the court below in overruling defendant’s motion to quash the special venire from which the jurors who convicted him were taken.

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently September 1924

2 state decisions

Relies on Purvis v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1908-10-15

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Calhoon, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the court.

¶2In this case a special venire was demanded by the accused,, and the same was drawn and the return made by tire sheriff.. *421On the return day of the special venire he moved to quash it, and the court overruled the motion. On the motion testimony was introduced which showed conclusively that Code 1906, § 2688, was ignored by the board of supervisors. That section requires that the board should take the names of the jurors “as nearly as they conveniently can from the supervisors’ districts in proportion to the number of qualified persons in each, excluding all who have served on the regular panel within two years, if there be not a deficiency of jurors.”

¶3It is perfectly apparent from the proof that no attention was paid to this requirement. In one of the beats (No. 4), the registration books show the names of only twenty-six persons registered, while from it the board selected twenty-nine persons, of which number twelve had never been registered, and ten of them who had been registered were wholly omitted. In beat No. 5, there were fifty-eight registered electors; whereas, the board put sixty-three persons in tire jury box from that beat.

¶4The observance of this section 2688 is at the Very basis of all jury trials, and, under the ruling in Purvis v. State, 71 Miss. 706, 14 South. 268, the judgment appealed from in this case necessarily must be reversed and remanded.

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