Crossley v. California, 168 U.S. 640 (1898)

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Crossley v. California

No. 470

Submitted December 14, 1897
Decided January 8, 1898
168 U.S. 640

APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED

STATES FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Syllabus

In a trial before a state court for murder charged to have been committed within the state, it is for the state court to decide whether the question of whether the evidence tended to show that the accused was guilty of murder only in the second degree shall or shall not be submitted to the jury, and its decision is not subject to revision in the circuit court of the United States, nor here.

A writ of habeas corpus cannot be made use of as a writ of error.

While the derailment of a train carrying the mails of the United States is a crime which may be punished through the courts of the United States under the provisions of the statutes in that behalf, the death of the engineer thereof produced thereby is a crime against the laws of the state in which the derailment takes place, for which the person causing it may be proceeded against in the state court through an indictment for murder.

The case is stated in the opinion.