Commonwealth v. Hilliard

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Commonwealth v. Hilliard

68 Mass. 294

CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

DecidedOctober 15, 1854

StatusPublished

This text of 68 Mass. 294 (Commonwealth v. Hilliard) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Commonwealth v. Hilliard, 68 Mass. 294 (Mass. 1854).

Pincite

Opinion

By the Court.

The evidence is inadmissible. If such evidence were admitted on behalf of the prisoner, it would be competent for the Commonwealth to show that the deceased was of a mild and peaceable character. Such evidence is too remote and uncertain to have any legitimate bearing on the question at issue. The provocation under which the defendant acted must be judged of by the res gestee; and the evidence must be confined to the facts and circumstances attending the assault by the deceased upon the defendant.

Verdict, guilty of mcmslmghter.

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By the Court.

The evidence is inadmissible. If such evidence were admitted on behalf of the prisoner, it would be competent for the Commonwealth to show that the deceased was of a mild and peaceable character. Such evidence is too remote and uncertain to have any legitimate bearing on the question at issue. The provocation under which the defendant acted must be judged of by the res gestee; and the evidence must be confined to the facts and circumstances attending the assault by the deceased upon the defendant.

Verdict, guilty of mcmslmghter.

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Bluebook (online)

68 Mass. 294, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-hilliard-mass-1854.