Arrington v. State, 50877

• Decision Date: 17 January 1979
• Docket Number: No. 50877,50877
• Parties: C. G. ARRINGTON v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 246

366 So.2d 246

C. G. ARRINGTON v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 50877.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Jan. 17, 1979.

Thomas Gene Clark, Laurel, Charles M. Leggett, Waynesboro, for appellant.

A. F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Catherine Walker Underwood, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee.

Before SMITH, P. J., and LEE and COFER, JJ.

LEE, Justice, for the Court:

C. G. Arrington was indicted and tried for murder in the Circuit Court of Wayne County. He was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to ten (10) years in the Mississippi State Penitentiary. From that sentence and judgment he appeals and assigns the following errors in the trial below:

(1) The lower court erred in excluding evidence offered by the defendant relative to the character and reputation of the deceased, together with the record of convictions of the deceased.

(2) The lower court erred in refusing to grant Instruction D-9 requested by the defendant.

On May 5, 1977, about 7:00 p. m., appellant and his wife drove up to the Midway Curb Market, Waynesboro, and appellant went inside, purchased a soft drink and newspaper, and started out. Thomas Mack Sumrall and Robert McMichael, both of whom were employed on an oil rig in Louisiana, had gotten off work, and had come to Waynesboro, where they entered the store. When Sumrall went inside, he apparently blocked the entrance, Arrington grabbed Sumrall around the collar to remove him from the doorway, an altercation ensued, and the two men scuffled back to Arrington's truck which was parked about twenty (20) feet from the store front. Arrington picked up an air pump from the bed of his truck and attempted to strike Sumrall with it. Sumrall was the larger of the two, he took the instrument away from Arrington, and hit Arrington on the head, causing the air pump to break. Arrington indicated that he had enough of the fight and Sumrall turned around, walked away from him and the truck, and started to enter the store again. Arrington got a .22 rifle from his truck and about the time Sumrall reached the front door of the store, Arrington began shooting at him (three (3) empty shell hulls were found at the truck). Sumrall fell and expired, having been struck by one of the bullets, which entered his chest, ranged upward and lodged behind his right shoulder blade.

I.

Did the trial court err in excluding evidence offered by appellant as to the character and reputation of the deceased along with a record of convictions of the deceased?

Appellant complains that the trial court declined to permit him to introduce evidence of deceased's bad reputation for peace or violence in the community in which he lived and declined to permit introduction of deceased's criminal record, which included three (3) convictions for violation of prohibition laws, one for resisting arrest, one for destroying private property, and two for violation of parole.

The appellant claimed self-defense, but at the time he shot Sumrall, appellant was the aggressor. The general rule on self-defense is stated in 40 Am.Jur.2d Homicide § 145, at 434 (1968):

"The fault in bringing on a difficulty which will deprive one of the right of self-defense is not confined to the precise time of the fatal encounter which results, but may include faults so closely connected with the difficulty in time and circumstances as to be fairly regarded as operating to bring it on. A plea of self-defense is of no avail, notwithstanding the deceased For a homicide to be justifiable on the ground of self-defense, the danger to the slayer must either be actual, present and urgent or the slayer must have reasonable grounds to apprehend a design on the part of the deceased to kill him or do him some great bodily harm and, in addition, there must be imminent danger of such design being accomplished. Bright v. State, 349 So.2d 503 (Miss.1977). The general rule is that evidence of the bad character of the deceased is competent where there is doubt as to which of the parties was the aggressor.

provoked the original quarrel with the accused, where, after that quarrel had ended, and there had been a cessation of the conflict, or the deceased had withdrawn therefrom, a subsequent difficulty was...