State v. Jones

• Citation: 133 S.E. 81,191 N.C. 753
• Decision Date: 19 May 1926
• Docket Number: 346.
• Parties: STATE v. JONES.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of North Carolina

133 S.E. 81

191 N.C. 753

STATE v. JONES.

No. 346.

Supreme Court of North Carolina

May 19, 1926

Appeal from Superior Court, Forsyth County; Stack, Judge.

Fred Jones was convicted of murder, and he appeals. No error.

Indictment for murder. Verdict guilty of murder in the first degree. From judgment upon the verdict that defendant be punished with death by means of electrocution, as provided by statute defendant appealed to the Supreme Court.

Evidence held to show that defendant suffering from dementia praecox knew that act in shooting deceased was wrong.

Hastings & Booe, H. M. Du Bose, Jr., and J. S. Fitts, all of Winston-Salem, for appellant.

Dennis G. Brummitt, Atty. Gen., and Frank Nash, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.

CONNOR J.

The evidence offered at the trial below by the state, and submitted to the jury by the court, without objection from defendant, was sufficient to support the state's contention that defendant killed deceased with a deadly weapon, and that such killing was deliberate and premeditated, done in the perpetration of a felony, unless defendant was insane at the time of the killing. No exceptions appear in the record to the instructions of the court, given in the charge to the jury, relative to the contentions of the state that defendant killed deceased by shooting him with a pistol, and that the homicide was committed after deliberation and premeditation in the perpetration of a felony. All the exceptions are to the admission or exclusion of evidence, relied upon by defendant to sustain his defense, based upon his contention that he was insane at the time of the killing, or to instructions given or refused relative to this defense.

The evidence tends to show that on Saturday night, June 13, 1925 at about 9 o'clock, deceased, J. M. King, G. C. Messick P. C. Johnson, and J. L. Lawrence were at work, as employees, in the Winston-Salem laundry in the city of Winston-Salem. They were settling the cash register and preparing to close up after the day's work. Suddenly a man appeared in the room where they were at work with a pistol in his hand. He called out, "Up with your God damned hands, every one of you, or I will kill every one of you." He shot the deceased, J. M. King, before any one in the room realized his purpose. King fell, mortally wounded, and the man stepped over his body and went at once to the cash register. He took the currency from the cash register, leaving the silver money. Then with the pistol in his hand, he turned to each of the other three employees and compelled each to give him the money which he had on his person. When the man entered the room, he had a blue handkerchief over his face; his cap was pulled down on the left side of his head. While in the room, the handkerchief fell off his face; he picked it up from the floor, and with his arm over his face, and the pistol still in his hand, backed out of the door, commanding the men in the room to keep their hands up, saying that if they did not, he would kill them. J. M. King had two wounds on the left side of his face, resulting from the pistol shots. He was taken to a hospital, where he died the next morning. The wounds resulting from the pistol shots were the cause of his death.

Defendant, Fred Jones, according to the evidence, was first seen in Winston-Salem on Tuesday before the Saturday night on which deceased was killed. He is a negro, and, with a companion, went to a clubroom maintained in the city for negroes. Although a stranger to its members, he was admitted to membership in the club. He rented a room from the manager of the club, paying a part of the rent in cash, and saying that he would pay the balance on Saturday night. On Saturday morning he went from his room to the club; later in the day he went out into the city, and remained away until about 4 p. m. He then returned to the club and remained there until night. He returned about 8 p. m. and asked the manager to serve him a lunch, saying that he had no money with which to pay for it. After eating he again left the club, having put on his overalls, and saying that he was going to leave that night for New York; that he would have to beg his way. He put a blue handkerchief in his pocket and left the club at 10 or 15 minutes to 9.

The manager of the club, upon his return home, found Fred Jones in the room which he had rented to him. There was a woman in the room with him. When told that "everybody down town say you killed that man," Fred Jones replied, "They can't prove it." He was told that people were saying that they saw him going into and coming out of the building in which the man was killed. He then said, "What must I do? I am going to the woods." He was taken by the witness to a room in another part of the city in order that he might avoid arrest. He was later arrested in this room. He offered the witness who took him to the other room $10.

The day after he was arrested Fred Jones made a statement. He said that he had talked to the manager of the club on Thursday and Friday about the laundry, and discussed with him whether or not there was a watchman there, and whether or not they had money in the laundry. He said that he went to the laundry and there shot Mr. King because he thought Mr. King was going to strike him; that he searched all the men there except Mr. King, and got $40 in all. He declined to tell the name of the woman found in the room with him after he left the laundry, saying that she was not implicated. He related his past life to the witness, saying that he had been in a penitentiary upon a conviction for manslaughter.

Dr. Albert Anderson, superintendent of the State Hospital for the Insane at Raleigh, testified that he first saw defendant, Fred Jones, some time in June, 1925, after the homicide. Dr. Anderson examined defendant, at the request of his counsel, first in the jail at Winston-Salem, and later in the state's prison at Raleigh. He saw him at different times, over five or six weeks. He said:

"My opinion is that defendant is suffering from a mental disease, known as dementia praecox, of the paranoid type. This disease manifests itself in early childhood by peculiarities which differentiate the patient from normal children. It develops through childhood, and manifests itself by definite symptoms in early manhood. The patient is irregular in his habits, and when the disease is of the paranoid type it frequently manifests itself in criminal tendencies. Persons suffering with the disease have outbursts of passion; they manifest hate and desire to accomplish immoral and illegal things of great variety. It is a chronic and progressive disease, and is frequently accompanied by a tendency to commit murder. In my opinion, this defendant is insane. The type of the disease with which this defendant is suffering is incurable. In my opinion, based upon my examination of defendant in jail at Winston-Salem, and in the state's prison at Raleigh, defendant was insane on the night of June 13, 1925, the time of the homicide. At intervals the paranoid type of dementia praecox know the difference between right and wrong in a simple way, but I do not think they fully appreciate the nature and consequences of their acts. I do not say that defendant did not have sufficient mental capacity on the night of June 13, 1925, to know right from wrong. He may have known right from wrong, but I do not think he knew the full significance or nature of his act. I think he knew when he presented the pistol at the man and pulled the trigger that the natural consequence of the act would be to kill the man. I do not think he appreciated the nature and consequencs of his act in shooting the deceased as a normal man would."

Rev. George W. Lee, pastor of the North Winston Presbyterian Church, testified that he saw defendant on Sunday afternoon after the homicide; that he talked with him then and subsequently saw and talked with him when he went to the jail, on Wednesday and Sunday afternoon, to visit the prisoners confined there. Defendant wrote him a letter after he was taken to the state's prison in regard to his spiritual condition, expressing his joy in the assurance of God's help in his trouble, and in the hope of the salvation of his soul. This witness was of the opinion that defendant is insane. He talked to him, more or less.

Defendant offered evidence tending to show that on March 4, 1921, he was committed to the Connecticut state prison, from Hartford county, Conn., upon a sentence of not less than three nor more than five years for the crime of assault with intent to murder. On July 6, 1922, upon an examination by the prison physician, defendant was declared insane, and on the next day thereafter he was removed to the insane ward of the state prison. He remained continuously in the insane ward until his discharge, upon the expiration of the maximum term of his sentence, on May 7, 1925. He was delivered into the custody of the Connecticut Prison Association, as provided by the statute of that state. Between the date of his discharge from the insane ward of the Connecticut state prison, and the date of the homicide, defendant served a short term on the roads of Rowan county, this state, upon conviction of a misdemeanor; after the completion of said term, he was employed in work at a quarry by the Hardaway Construction Company at Woodleaf. He left the quarry on Tuesday, the same day that he was first seen in...