Court Opinion

ID: 9694429
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 17:41:23.182388+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:01.163631
License: Public Domain

*41McCALEB, Justice
(dissenting).
This Court is without jurisdiction of questions of fact in criminal cases (see Section 10 of Article 7 of the Constitution) ; it is only where there is no evidence at all that we are authorized to set aside a conviction for want of proof of guilt. While the majority opinion recognizes that this is the law, it does not appear to me that it has been followed in this case for, concededly, since the killing resulted from defendant’s act in striking the child with the automobile, the question of whether defendant was criminally negligent was purely one of fact. And, in view of defendant’s statement at the Coroner’s inquest (which was admitted in evidence) that, when he first observed the child, he slowed to 20 miles per hour but, subsequently, when he saw that the child had stopped, he speeded up to 35 or 40 miles per hour, it can hardly be said that there was not some evidence submitted from which a finding of criminal negligence could be deduced. In addition, a police officer stated that defendant told him that he speeded up because he thought he could beat the child across the road and the physical fact that the car skidded almost 100 feet is evidence of defendant’s lack of control.
But, even if there was no evidence to sustain the conviction, defendant should not be discharged; he should be given a new trial as it was only by virtue of his motion for a new trial that the question of lack of evidence could be considered.
I respectfully dissent.