Bracey v. State

• Decision Date: 08 February 1960
• Docket Number: No. 4967,4967
• Citation: 331 S.W.2d 870,231 Ark. 647
• Parties: John BRACEY, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

Page 870

331 S.W.2d 870

231 Ark. 647

John BRACEY, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee.

No. 4967.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

Feb. 8, 1960.

Rehearing Denied March 7, 1960.

Thomas L. Cashion, Eudora, for appellant.

Bruce Bennett, Atty. Gen., by Thorp Thomas, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

WARD, Justice.

The appellant, John Bracey, is a Negro, male, 26 years of age. He is here appealing from a judgment of the court sentencing him to die in the electric chair for the slaying of Alberta Miles, a Negro female, on January 30, 1959.

Alberta Miles was killed in her home in Eudora on January 30, 1959 but her body was not discovered until the morning of February 3, 1959 when neighbors having noticed her absence, requested the Chief of Police of Eudora to make an investigation. This investigation revealed that the deceased's body was in a partially clothed condition lying on the bed. There was a hole in the left side of her chest apparently caused by a small caliber bullet.

On the next morning after the slaying, appellant, who lived in a house owned by Jack Harrison, left Eudora and went to Vicksburg, Mississippi were he remained for some time. A search was made of appellant's room where articles of his clothing were found with bloodstains on them which led to the suspicion that he was connected in some way with the slaying. On April 11, 1959, appellant was arrested in McGehee, Arkansas by two members of the McGehee Police Department who knew appellant and had previously learned that he was under suspicion. After his arrest appellant admitted his identity and admitted that he had slain Alberta Miles. His confession was given in detail and reduced to writing and signed by him.

The Prosecuting Attorney filed an information against appellant charging him with the crime of murder in the first degree for the slaying of Alberta Miles. He was tried on July 15, 1959 and found guilty of murder in the first degree by a jury which fixed his punishment to be death by electrocution. The trial court pronounced judgment in accordance with the jury's verdict.

In due time a motion for a new trial was filed on the following grounds:

1. The verdict and judgment is contrary to the law.

2. The verdict and judgment is contrary to the evidence.

3. The verdict and judgment is contrary to the law and the evidence.

4. The court erred in permitting the State of Arkansas to introduce into evidence the alleged confession of the defendant over the specific objection of the defendant.

5. The court erred in permitting the State of Arkansas to introduce into the evidence the alleged clothing of the defendant under the specific objection of the defendant.

6. The court erred in not granting the defendant's motion for an instructed verdict at the conclusion of plaintiff's testimony.

The evidence, which we think is sufficient to support the verdict and the judgment, is substantially as hereafter set out.

Clarence Bethune, a witness for the State and a licensed embalmer and undertaker at Eudora stated that he knew Alberta Miles during her lifetime and was called to her home on February 3, 1959. Upon entering her home he found her body sitting on the bed with her head in her lap and also found a slopjar which seemed to be filled with bloody water. The room was torn up and portions of her clothing were torn off. There was a bullet hole in her breast on the left side which was apparently caused by a small caliber bullet. Louella Crawford, 65 years of age, a resident of Eudora, testified that she was acquainted with Alberta Miles during her lifetime and lived three or four blocks from her. On February 3rd she went to Alberta's house to take a check. Upon arriving at her house she called but no one answered, then she started around to the back where she saw a window broken out although she didn't go into the house. Jack Harrison, of Eudora, a witness for the State stated that he knew Alberta Miles for a few years and that he lived about two or three hundred yards from her; that appellant was boarding at his house at the time Alberta Miles was killed; that he went to her house on the 3rd of February and found her dead; and that blood was all over the place and on the bed and that the room appeared to have been ransacked. He further stated that he didn't see appellant on the morning of January 30th but heard him when he came to his room; that after appellant had left he later went to appellant's room and found some of his clothes bloody from top to bottom behind the bed; and that he also found a rubber boot, a pair of pants, and a jacket belonging to appellant which were bloodstained. Brady Bledsoe, who lives at Eudora, testified that he also had a room at Jack Harrison's house where appellant lived; that on Saturday morning of January 31, 1959, he saw an empty pistol cartridge behind the toilet outside of Harrison's house and that he showed the empty cartridge to Emmett Davis on February 7th. Emmett Davis, a witness for the State, testified that he was acquainted with Alberta Miles and the appellant and that he lived in the back of a store in the vicinity of Alberta Miles' house; that having been advised about appellant's clothes he told Mr. Harrison not to let anyone in the room; that acting upon the information given him by Brady Bledsoe he found the empty cartridge behind the house and that he took it up and gave it to Mr. Mathis, the City Marshal and Deputy Sheriff.

Mr. Mathis, a witness for the State, testified substantially as follows: For the past 40 years I have been a law enforcement officer in Eudora and for 46 years in Chicot County. I am acquainted with Jack Harrison, John Bracey (appellant) and Alberta Miles; having been advised that Alberta Miles was missing and that there was a window broken on the west side of her house I went to her house in the company of Jack Harrison and Mr. Davis, we entered the two-room house through the window and found the body which was slumped over on the bed; there was a bullet hole in the left side of her chest apparently from a small caliber bullet; appellant resided in the home of Jack Harrison which is about 70 feet from the home of Alberta Miles; the room in which we found the body had papers scattered around and was in a state of disorder; we checked for the bullet hole which has been mentioned heretofore, and there were no other wounds or appearance of powder burns on the deceased's body; I took several items of clothing from appellant's room and I took a bedspread and a pair of pajamas from the home of Alberta Miles; later I described the clothes to appellant and he told me they were his and also told me that the bloodstains on the articles of clothing in his room came from Alberta Miles. On the day after appellant was arrested in McGehee he confessed the killing of Alberta Miles to the McGehee officers and the following day, in the presence of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Sheriff of Chicot County, and myself appellant without duress or compulsion gave and signed a full confession.

The confession was introduced in evidence at the trial in connection with Mr. Mathis' testimony.

The appellant John Bracey, testified in his own behalf substantially as follows: I was born December 6, 1933, at Vicksburg, Mississippi; since I was 17 I have been engaged in sawmill work having finished the 4th grade in school; I am married but have been separated from my wife for about four years; while in Eudora I worked for the Breece-White Manufacturing Company, and made from $70 to $90 a week but saved no money. After I got off from work on January 30th I went to town and cashed my check at the liquor store and bought a pint of wine; I drank this right away and then went to the cafe where I drank a quart of beer; then I bought a pint of Old Taylor whiskey which I drank with some beer; then I drank another pint of wine with some beer--spending all that was left of my salary. On my way home from the cafe I passed the home of Alberta Miles with whom I was well acquainted; I turned into the yard and went up...