Anderson v. State

• Decision Date: 31 October 1910
• Citation: 53 So. 393,97 Miss. 658
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: JOHN ANDERSON v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

53 So. 393

97 Miss. 658

JOHN ANDERSON v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

Supreme Court of Mississippi

October 31, 1910

October 1910

FROM the circuit court of Clarke county, HON. JOHN L. BUCKLEY Judge.

Anderson appellant, was indicted and tried for the murder of Staten Calvert, was convicted of manslaughter, and appealed to the supreme court. The opinion of the court sufficiently states the facts.

Affirmed.

J. A. Anderson, for appellant.

This is a close case on the facts. A strong showing of self-defense was made by appellant. Had the appellant's eleventh instruction been granted by the trial court, the result would have been different. That instruction is couched in very nearly the same language as the instruction in the Lewis case, 93 Miss. 967, which this court said should have been given had the good character of appellant been shown by the evidence.

In the present case the good character of the appellant, Anderson, was substantially shown by the testimony of different witnesses.

James R. McDowell, assistant attorney-general, for appellee.

The only error assigned by appellant is the refusal of the eleventh instruction asked by him in the court below. Lewis v. State, 93 Miss. 697, is not here applicable. The wording of the instruction in that case is entirely different from the instruction here under consideration. In the instant case, the instruction is virtually a charge on the weight of evidence. The jury is told that evidence of good character may of itself raise a reasonable doubt without being told that it is to judge of whether or not this evidence of good character is sufficient to raise such a reasonable doubt. Appellant is not shown in the instant case to possess an immaculate character. The witnesses for appellant, of whose testimony the refused instruction was predicated simply testified that so far as they knew and heard appellant had a good reputation. This is not such evidence of character as entitles appellant to the instruction asked, or even to the instruction asked in the Lewis case, supra, which was refused.

OPINION

MAYES, C. J.

John Anderson was indicted in Clarke county for the murder of one Staten Calvert some time in the year 1909. He was tried and convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to the penitentiary for twenty years, and from this conviction prosecutes an appeal to this court.

In regard to the facts of the case, we need only say that the conviction was fully warranted, and the verdict cannot be disturbed, unless there is error in the trial court's instructions. It is contended for appellant that the court erred in refusing the following instruction, viz "The court instructs the jury, for the defendant, that if they believe, from the evidence in this case, that at the time of the killing the defendant bore a good character for peace, then...