(Download) "People State New York v. Jacob Powell" by Supreme Court of New York ~ Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People State New York v. Jacob Powell
- Author : Supreme Court of New York
- Release Date : January 20, 1972
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 62 KB
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[39 A.D.2d 531 Page 531] Defendant-appellant was indicted with two others for homicide of one Henderson, a minor dealer in drugs, said to have resulted
from a quarrel between Henderson and the other three. The two co-defendants, who had made self-inculpatory statements, pleaded
guilty during trial, and defendant's case was severed on his application and retried; the result was conviction of manslaughter.
Proof at defendant's trial was entirely circumstantial. The ancient rule is: "In determining a question of fact from circumstantial
evidence * * * the hypothesis of * * * guilt should flow naturally from the facts proved, and be consistent with them all
* * * [and] * * * The evidence must be such as to exclude, to a moral certainty, every hypothesis but that of * * * guilt
* * * [and] * * * be inconsistent with * * * innocence." (People v. Bennett, 49 N. Y. 137, 144-145.) The People's evidence
came primarily from one witness, whose testimony is briefly summarized: looking out of her window one evening, she saw the
deceased and the other three in an apartment across the street; she knew all four participants; though unable to hear them,
she gathered from their gestures and attitudes that they were engaged in an argument; the deceased left the others and crossed
the street and entered his home building, next door to that of the witness; she saw the others follow and, while they were
on their way, heard one -- unidentified -- say: "He ain't going to get away with it."; the three entered the building next
door, whence she heard two shots, and saw the two co-defendants flee the scene at once; while she described the hat worn by
defendant, and said that a hat found by police at the scene "look like it," she repeated several times that she could not
say that it was that of defendant. The deceased was found dead of [39 A.D.2d 531 Page 532]