Opinion
05-10-1904
THOMPSON . v. STATE.
S. M. Varnadoe and Wilcox & Johnson, for plaintiff in error.W. E. Thomas, Sol. Gen., for the State.
PERJURY — FALSE SCHOOL REPORT — CRIMINAL TRIAL — PAROL EVIDENCE—INSTRUCTIONS— NEW TRIAL—SUFFICIENCY OF EVIDENCE.
1. In an indictment for false swearing it is not necessary to allege expressly that the oath was taken not in a judicial proceeding, when the facts set out in the indictment show this unequivocally.
2. Where, on the trial of one accused of false swearing, it appears that he had sworn to a report of several pages, one of such pages is not inadmissible in evidence because the accused had previously sworn to it before another attesting officer. The first oath did not affect the falsity of the second, nor render the page inadmissible. Nor was it error to admit parol evidence to the effect that the oath of the accused, subscribed to the report, was to the entire report, including the page just referred to.
3. One indicted for false swearing may be convicted although it appear that the officer who administered the oath knew at the time that it was false, and made to obtain funds to which the affiant was not entitled, and such officer administered the oath for the purpose of instituting criminal proceedings.
4. Where a school-teacher is indicted for swearing to a false school report, and such report is lost, upon the trial of the teacher under another indictment for the same offense the first indictment is admissible in evidence to show the contents of the lost report, when there is evidence that certain names in the report and in the first indictment were identical.
5. A new trial will not be ordered because of the failure of the trial judge to instruct the jury as to the form of their verdict, when it appears that in concluding his charge he stated that, in the event the jury entertained a reasonable doubt as to any material issue in the case, they should return a verdict of acquittal; but that, if they had no such doubt, they should find the accused guilty.
6. There was no error in the rulings of which complaint was made, and the evidence was sufficient to authorize the verdict.
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Error from Superior Court, Lowndes County; R. G. Mitchell, Judge.
B. W. Thompson was convicted of false swearing, and brings error. Affirmed.
S. M. Varnadoe and Wilcox & Johnson, for plaintiff in error.
W. E. Thomas, Sol. Gen., for the State.
SIMMONS, C. J. Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concurring.