State v. Jones, 21 P. 265 (Kan. 1889)

W. was shot and instantly killed by J. There were but two witnesses to the homicide: one, the defendant, who claimed he acted in self-defense, testified he was only seven or eight feet from W. when he discharged the musket; the other, a ten-year-old son of W., said the defendant was more than seventy feet distant. From the wound causing the death of W. it appeared that the shot entered his body within a space of two inches in diameter, except three or four just outside of such space. At the trial the defendant produced a witness who said he was and had been a gunsmith for thirty years; that he had studied and experimented for years to ascertain how far guns and muskets would carry shot compactly, and that he was able to state how far from the musket used a person receiving such a wound as deceased would have been. Held, The witness was qualified as an expert, and the evidence sought to be introduced was competent and material. vW. was shot and instantly killed by J. There were but two witnesses to the homicide: one, the defendant, who claimed he acted in self-defense, testified he was only seven or eight feet from W. when he discharged the musket; the other, a ten-year-old son of W., said the defendant was more than seventy feet distant. From the wound causing the death of W. it appeared that the shot entered his body within a space of two inches in diameter, except three or four just outside of such space. At the trial the defendant produced a witness who said he was and had been a gunsmith for thirty years; that he had studied and experimented for years to ascertain how far guns and muskets would carry shot compactly, and that he was able to state how far from the musket used a person receiving such a wound as deceased would have been. Held, The witness was qualified as an expert, and the evidence sought to be introduced was competent and material. W. was shot and instantly killed by J. There were but two witnesses to the homicide: one, the defendant, who claimed he acted in self-defense, testified he was only seven or eight feet from W. when he discharged the musket; the other, a ten-year-old son of W., said the defendant was more than seventy feet distant. From the wound causing the death of W. it appeared that the shot entered his body within a space of two inches in diameter, except three or four just outside of such space. At the trial the defendant produced a witness who said he was and had been a gunsmith for thirty years; that he had studied and experimented for years to ascertain how far guns and muskets would carry shot compactly, and that he was able to state how far from the musket used a person receiving such a wound as deceased would have been. Held, The witness was qualified as an expert, and the evidence sought to be introduced was competent and material. W. was shot and instantly killed by J. There were but two witnesses to the homicide: one, the defendant, who claimed he acted in self-defense, testified he was only seven or eight feet from W. when he discharged the musket; the other, a ten-year-old son of W., said the defendant was more than seventy feet distant. From the wound causing the death of W. it appeared that the shot entered his body within a space of two inches in diameter, except three or four just outside of such space. At the trial the defendant produced a witness who said he was and had been a gunsmith for thirty years; that he had studied and experimented for years to ascertain how far guns and muskets would carry shot compactly, and that he was able to state how far from the musket used a person receiving such a wound as deceased would have been. Held, The witness was qualified as an expert, and the evidence sought to be introduced was competent and material.