Page:Redd v. State (1897).pdf/2

458 SAME—CONFESSION OF AN ACCOMPLICE.—It is error in a murder case to instruct the jury that if they believe that the defendants, or either of them, confessed to the killing of the deceased, and that both of the defendants participated in the killing, they may convict, as the confession of one defendant is no evidence against the other.

Appeal from Drew Circuit Court.

MARCUS L. HAWKINS, Judge.

H. King White for appellant.

Frank McCoy was an accomplice. Sand. & H. Dig., sec. 1451. And defendant could not be convicted on his uncorroborated testimony. Ib. sec. 2230. Instructions Nos. 11 and 12 asked by defendant are the law. 122 Ill. App. 79.

E. B. Kinsworthy, Attorney General, for appellee.   BUNN, C. J. This is an indictment for murder in the first degree, tried and determined in the Drew circuit court at its fall term, 1896, resulting in the conviction of both the defendants of the crime charged against them, and judgment and sentence accordingly, from which they appealed to this court.

On the 13th day of May, 1896, W. F. Skipper, a saw mill operator and merchant of Baxter, in said county, was found dead on the lower bank of Bayou Bartholomew, between said town and his saw mill, lying with his face downwards, and resting upon his crossed hands with palms down. There were two wounds, one as if made by a sharp knife across the throat, severing the jugular vein, and the other by a pointed instrument, penetrating the carotid artery. A pocket knife, with one blade open, was found in his right hand, but at the time the muscles of the hand were relaxed, so that the knife rested loosely in the hand. Two pools of blood from the wounds in the neck, one on either side, and under the arms, were discovered. In the bayou, just opposite where the body was found,