Bedwell v. State

• Decision Date: 11 December 1922
• Docket Number: 22660
• Citation: 94 So. 220,130 Miss. 427
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: BEDWELL v. STATE

94 So. 220

130 Miss. 427

BEDWELL v. STATE

No. 22660

Supreme Court of Mississippi

December 11, 1922

HOMICIDE. Evidence held sufficient to warrant peremptory instruction for accused.

Under the facts, as set out in the opinion, held, that a peremptory instruction to find the defendant not guilty should have been granted.

HON. D M. MILLER, Judge.

APPEAL from circuit court of Walthall county, HON. D. M. MILLER Judge.

Elijah Bedwell was convicted of manslaughter, and he appeals. Reversed, and defendant discharged.

Judgment reversed and appellant discharged.

L. W. Felder, for appellant.

H. C. Holden, assistant attorney-general, for the state.

No brief found in the record for either side.

OPINION

COOK, J.

The appellant, Elijah Bedwell, was indicted for murder in the circuit court of Walthall county, and convicted of manslaughter, and, from the judgment sentencing him to the penitentiary for three years, he prosecuted this appeal.

There is no material conflict in the testimony in this record. The appellant, a boy seventeen years old, had been discharged from the army for physical disability, and at the time of the difficulty was delicate and sickly, weighing only about one hundred twenty pounds. The deceased was a man of powerful physique, about thirty years of age, and weighing about one hundred eighty pounds. The deceased married appellant's sister and was temporarily residing in the home of B. S. Smith, who had also married a sister of appellant.

On the day of this unfortunate tragedy appellant was visiting at the home of his brother-in-law B. S. Smith, but before he arrived at the Smith home the deceased had left for Tylertown, and he did not return until about 1 o'clock. While in Tylertown the deceased secured a bottle of "moonshine" liquor and drank some of it on the return trip. When the deceased and his companion, a son of B. S. Smith, returned home, the appellant went out and greeted them and assisted them in unhitching and feeding their horses. Returning to the house they entered the dining room, where the deceased began eating dinner, while the appellant stood nearby manicuring his nails with a pocket knife.

There had been no previous difficulty or hard feelings between appellant and deceased, and up to that time their conversation had been friendly. While the meal was in progress, however, the deceased referred to a debt which he had contracted while he resided in Marion county and which had been guaranteed by appellant's father and another and asked appellant a question about it. Appellant answered in a civil manner, but deceased appeared to become very much enraged and accused appellant of meddling with the affair. The appellant denied that he was having anything to do with it, and deceased thereupon...