In my previous post I talked about Adam Bollinger a former slave who was arrested for the murder of a fellow slave in 1862.
This was a unique case in Missouri courts as Bollinger offered a brilliant defense stating that if he was considered property in 1862, how could one piece of property murder another piece of property?
I had not found what fate befell Adam Bollinger but thanks to an inquisitive reader we now have the answer!
According to the Case Law Access Project at Harvard Law School:
“The State’s Bight of Appeal in Criminal Cases. Where a motion in arrest of judgment in a criminal case has been sustained, and the prisoner ordered discharged, on the ground that at the time of the commission of the offense the defendant was a slave, and as such not liable to punishment, the State cannot appeal. Her right of appeal.is limited to those cases, where, either on motion to quash, on demurrer or on motion in arrest of judgment, the indictment has been adjudged to b.e insufficient either in form or substance. *578Appeal from, Madison Circuit Court. — Hon. ¥m. N. Nalle, ■Judge. J. L. Smith, Attorney-General, for the State. Duchouquette § Fox for respondent.” State v. Bollinger, 69 Mo. 577 (1879)”
Thank You to our helpful reader!
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