Bell v. State

• Decision Date: 12 May 1925
• Docket Number: 7 Div. 78
• Citation: 20 Ala.App. 425,104 So. 443
• Parties: BELL v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals

104 So. 443

20 Ala.App. 425

BELL v. STATE.

7 Div. 78

Court of Appeals of Alabama

May 12, 1925

Appeal from Circuit Court, DeKalb County; W.W. Haralson, Judge.

Ira Bell was convicted of murder in the second degree, and he appeals. Reversed and remanded.

J.V Curtis and Baker & Baker, all of Fort Payne, for appellant.

Harwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., and Lamar Field, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

RICE J.

The defendant was convicted of the offense of murder in the second degree, and appeals. No useful purpose could be served by a discussion of the evidence. No exceptions were reserved on account of any rulings on the admission or rejection of testimony. The defendant requested in writing the following charge:

"5. I charge you gentlemen of the jury that it is not necessary that the defendant should have been actually in danger of death or great bodily harm at the time he shot Long in order for him to be justified in shooting Long. He had the right to act on the appearance of things at the time taken in the light of all the evidence, and he had the right to interpret the conduct of Long in the light of any threat that the evidence proves Long to have made against the defendant. If the circumstances attending the shooting were such as to justify a reasonable man in the belief that he was in danger of great bodily harm or death, and he honestly believed such to be the case, then he had the right to shoot Long in his own defense, although as a matter of fact he was not in actual danger, and if the jury believe that the defendant acted under such conditions and circumstances as set out above, the burden of showing he was not free from fault in bringing on the difficulty is on the state, and if not shown the jury should acquit the defendant."

Charges similar in substances and principle to the above have been many times approved by this and the Supreme Court. McCutcheon v. State, 5 Ala.App. 96, 59 So. 714; Bluett v. State, 151 Ala. 41, 44 So. 84; Id., 161 Ala. 14, 49 So. 854; Black v. State, 5 Ala.App. 87 59 So. 692, and other cases that might be cited. While portions of this charge are substantially covered by the very able oral charge of the trial court, a part of it is not so covered, notably the familiar principle that the defendant had the right to interpret the conduct of the deceased in the light of any threat that the evidence shows to have been made by the deceased against the defendant.

The...