State v. Woods

• Citation: 10 S.W. 157,97 Mo. 31
• Parties: The State v. Woods, Appellant
• Decision Date: 20 December 1888
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri

10 S.W. 157

97 Mo. 31

The State v. Woods, Appellant

Supreme Court of Missouri

December 20, 1888

Appeal from St. Louis Criminal Court. -- Hon. G. S. VanWaggoner Judge.

Affirmed.

Thos B. Harvey for appellant.

(1) The court erred in the instructions given of its own motion. (2) The court erred in refusing to instruct the jury upon the question of cooling time. "Whether there has been cooling time is eminently a question of fact, varying with the particular case and with the condition of the party." 1 Whart. Crim. Law (9 Ed.) sec. 480 and citations; Whart. on Hom. sec. 449. "The separation of two persons engaged in a fight, which eventually terminates in a homicide, to justify a verdict of murder, must be for a time sufficient for the passions excited by the fight to have subsided and reason to have resumed its sway." State v. Moore, 69 N.C. 267; State v. Sizemore, 7 Jones (N. C.) 206. The question is one of fact for the jury. Maher v. People, 10 Mich. 212; Hurd v. People, 25 Mich. 405.

B. G Boone, Attorney General, for the State.

(1) The instructions given by the court were correct. (2) The instructions asked by defendant were covered by those already given.

Norton C. J. Black, J., concurring. Brace, J., concurs in the result. Sherwood, J., concurring.

OPINION

Norton, C. J.

At the May term, 1885, of the criminal court for the city of St. Louis, defendant was tried and convicted of murder in the second degree for killing one Joseph Hunter and from the judgment has appealed.

The evidence tends to show that Joseph Hunter, the deceased, who was a colored man, was at work as a porter in the Drew Glass Company's building in the city of St. Louis, and while at work there, on the fifth of December, 1882, the defendant, in company with one Stith, came along; that some angry words passed between the defendant and said Hunter, culminating, according to the evidence of some of the witnesses, in a fight on the platform in front of the door leading into the Drew Company's building; that one Maloney, an employe of the company, interfered and the parties were separated at said door, Hunter resuming his work in the building, Woods, the defendant, and Stith, his companion, going across the street to a grocery-store or a saloon in the rear thereof, where they remained some ten or more minutes, and on coming out, Woods, as testified to by witness Banks, said, "I can lick any son of a bitch over there," pointing towards the Drew Company's building; that his companion Stith said to him, "Come on home," to which Woods replied, "Give me the knife and I will go home," Stith then said, "Will you be sure to come now," and Woods said, "Yes." Witness stated that Stith then handed Woods something, and both of them started south, and that when he again noticed them, they had turned north and were going back towards the Drew building. This witness further testified that when Woods asked Stith for the knife, he said, "Give me the knife and I will go over there and kill the damned son of a bitch," or "black son of a bitch." The testimony of this witness as to the knife was corroborated by Richard Coats.

When Woods and Stith got back to the door of the building, one Sheehan who was at work for the glass company, stepped to the door and put his hands on each side of the door-facing to prevent Woods from coming into the house. Woods insisted upon going in, claiming that he had lost a collar button in there. Sheehan told him he could not have lost it in the glass store because he had not been in there. It appears that Hunter, in the meantime, had gone up in the elevator, which was about four feet from said door, with a load of glass; that when he came down, Sheehan was still standing in the door to prevent Woods from entering, and Hunter then picked a piece of pine-box top, half inch thick and two or three inches wide, and struck Woods with it over Sheehan's shoulder, whereupon Woods rushed into the room grappled with Hunter and stabbed him in the groin, cutting the femoral artery. Hunter fell over and died in a few minutes being unable to talk after he was stabbed. Defendant ran out of the building, threw his knife away, was pursued and captured on Washington avenue, and, on being asked by the officer why he had cut that man, said, "What man? I cut no man." The officer testified that Woods was under the influence of liquor.

No objection...