Bryant v. State

• Decision Date: 15 January 1914
• Citation: 64 So. 333,185 Ala. 8
• Parties: BRYANT v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

64 So. 333

185 Ala. 8

BRYANT v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Alabama

January 15, 1914

Appeal from Criminal Court, Jefferson County; William E. Fort Judge.

Carrie Bryant was convicted of murder in the second degree, and she appeals. Affirmed.

The defendant moved for a continuance because of the sickness of defendant, and presented a letter from a reputable physician stating that defendant had some temperature, a normal pulse and complained of pains in the abdomen, that he was unable to name any specific disease, but that she was sick, and should not be required to be in court, whereupon the court passed the case for two days, and at the time set for the next trial, defendant not appearing, and no certificate from physician, the court entered a forefeiture, and issued an alias capias, and sent the county physician and sheriff, with instructions to examine the physical condition of defendant and report. The physician found that she was not very strong but, in his judgment, could be put on trial without interfering with her health. The court thereupon passed the case till the next day, and, after talking with defendant herself, and with the county physician, required her to go to trial, notwithstanding the statement of Dr. Whelan made three days previous as above set out.

The following charges were refused to defendant:

(6) "You must be satisfied to a moral certainty, not only that the proof is consistent with the guilt of defendant, but that it is wholly inconsistent with every other rational conclusion, and, unless the jury are so convinced by the evidence of defendant's guilt that you will each venture to act upon that decision in matters of the highest concern and importance to your own interest, then you must acquit the defendant."

(7) "If you would not be willing to act upon the evidence in this case, if it was in relation to matters of the most solemn importance to your own interest, then you must find defendant not guilty."

(10) "The court charges the jury that the bare fear of the commission of the offense, to prevent which defendant used a deadly weapon, if not sufficient to justify it, but the circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fears of a reasonable man, and the attending party must have acted under the influence of such fears alone. It is not necessary however, to justify the use of a deadly weapon that the danger be actual; it is enough that it be apparent as will induce a reasonable person in defendant's position to believe that she was in immediate danger or great bodily harm. Upon such appearance the party may act with safety, nor will she be held accountable, though it would afterwards appear that the indications upon which she acted were wholly fallacious, and that she was in no actual peril. The rule in such case is this: Would a reasonable person with ordinary caution, judgment, and observation, in the position of defendant, seeing what she saw, and...