# Simmons v. State

> Alabama Court of Appeals · May 18, 1916 · 14 Ala. App. 103

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6522887

## Case

- **Full name:** Simmons v. State
- **Court:** Alabama Court of Appeals
- **Decided:** May 18, 1916
- **Citations:** 14 Ala. App. 103; 71 So. 979; 1916 Ala. App. LEXIS 37
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion of the court by Brown
- **Judges:** Brown
- **Cited by:** 13 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6522887

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding the prosecutor’s following remark to be. improper: ‘ ‘You must deal with a negro in the light of the fact *871 that he is a negro, and applying your experience and common sense.” ’
- holding the prosecutor's following remark to be improper: " 'You must deal with a negro in the light of the fact that he is a negro, and applying your experience and common sense.' "
- holding the prosecutor’s following remark to be. improper: ‘ ‘You must deal with a negro in the light of the fact that he is a negro, and applying your experience and common sense.” ’

## Opinion text

BROWN, J.
The statement of the solicitor, “You must deal with a negro in the light of the fact that he is a negro, and applying your experience and common sense,” was improper and calculated to prejudice the defendant before the jury, and the defendant’s objection thereto should have been sustained.— James v. State, 170 Ala. 72 , 54 South. 494 ; Tannehill v. State, 159 Ala. 51 , 48 South. 662 . The fact that the defendant was of the negro race did not deprive him of the equal protection of the law, or necessarily discredit his testimony, and should not have been used in the argument as a means of arraying the prejudices of the jury against him.
For this error the judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6522887. Public record. Not legal advice.