Page:Palmore v. State.pdf/22

VOL. 29] Rh  prove satisfactory to himself. All other papers named were harmless.

We find that grave errors were committed by the court, and that the jury acted with irregularity, although these irregularities alone would not be a sufficient cause for setting aside the judgment of the court below in overruling the motion for new trial, after the court below, with all the facts and circumstances before it, and a personal knowledge of the habits and character of the jury, had refused to do so.

We might feel content to affirm were we satisfied that these errors did not contribute to the conclusion arrived at by the jury. Here we find a strong, outside public sentiment, hostile to the appellant, as indicated by the newspaper article. We find the jury so acting as to tend to unfit them for their grave duties, and in this condition subjected to this external hostile influence to the extent of opportunity, if nothing more. We find this jury have not been allowed to hear important testimony, necessary to the correct determination of the case, and that it was liable to be misled by instructions which were erroneous, and by omissions of the court.

It would be going too far to allow this, simply that crime might not go unpunished.

For these errors the judgment of the criminal court of Phillips county is reversed, and this cause is remanded to the circuit court of said county, to whose jurisdiction it now belongs, with instructions to grant a new trial, and proceed therein according to law, and not inconsistent with this opinion.

HON. E. H. ENGLISH, C. J., did not sit in this case.