Bolen v. Com.

• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: LATIMER, Justice.
• Citation: Bolen v. Com., 198 S.W.2d 309, 303 Ky. 611 (Ky. Ct. App. 1946)
• Decision Date: 20 December 1946
• Parties: BOLEN v. COMMONWEALTH.

198 S.W.2d 309

303 Ky. 611

BOLEN v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

December 20, 1946

Appeal from Circuit Court, Knott County; H. C. Stephens, Judge.

Oscar Bolen was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, and he appeals.

Judgment affirmed.

D. G. Boleyn, of Hazard, for appellant.

Eldon S. Dummit, Atty. Gen., and Guy H. Herdman, Asst. Atty. Gen for appellee.

LATIMER Justice.

The appellant, Oscar Bolen, was indicted and convicted of the crime of voluntary manslaughter, committed by running his automobile against and killing Troy Hughes. His sentence was fixed at two years in the penitentiary. He seeks reversal on the sole ground that since there was no evidence to connect him with the death of Troy Hughes, he was entitled to a directed verdict of acquittal.

On the afternoon of Saturday, April 1, 1946, without the permission of the owner, appellant took a Maroon Ford Coupe and started on the trip down the highway where the dead body of Troy Hughes was afterwards found. According to the evidence Victor Hale, the owner of the car, gave his car keys to the appellant to get a battery out of the trunk. Appellant took the keys, and without permission of the owner, drove the car away.

There is considerable evidence that the appellant was drunk and staggering at places where he had stopped prior to the time that Troy Hughes was killed.

Sherman Brown, a miner at the Porter Mining Camp, stated that on the afternoon of the Saturday that Troy Hughes was killed, about 3:00 or 3:30, he saw a maroon car speeding along Highway 80 and that he heard a noise or impact as if the car had hit a dog; that soon thereafter his attention was attracted to a crowd congregated on the highway, and that he went immediately to the place and found the dead body of Hughes lying in an abandoned road some 15 or 20 feet off of the highway.

Mrs. Sherman Brown, the wife of the above witness, testified that sometime between 3:00 and 3:30, while walking along the highway on her return from the commissary to her home, she saw a faded maroon coupe, driven by its single occupant, coming down the road with the doors open.

The doctor, who was called to the place and examined the body, testified that some instrumentality had penetrated the back of the neck and that the brains could be seen through the wound; and that when he got there the body was yet warm, which showed a recent killing.

A man by the name of Ed Spears testified that he took possession of the car when he found it at Slone's Store, and that at the time the appellant was slumped under the wheel fast asleep. He drove the car to its owner, during all of which time the appellant never woke up.

Charles Wright, a Sergeant of the Highway Patrol, who was notified went immediately to the scene and stated that there was a pool of blood on the shoulder of the highway near the pavement, and also blood where the body was found. He was corroborated by others in this. He testified that he got...