Canty v. State

• Decision Date: 14 January 1943
• Docket Number: 3 Div. 388.
• Citation: Canty v. State, 244 Ala. 108, 11 So.2d 844 (Ala. 1943)
• Parties: CANTY v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

11 So.2d 844

244 Ala. 108

CANTY v. STATE.

3 Div. 388.

Supreme Court of Alabama

January 14, 1943

Rehearing Denied Feb. 25, 1943.

Ralph Ghent, of Montgomery, for appellant.

Wm N. McQueen, Atty. Gen., and John W. Vardaman, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

BROWN Justice.

The question of the guilt or innocence of the defendantappellant here, has been submitted to and considered by three separate juries, each returning a verdict of murder in the first degree, the first fixing his punishment at death, affirmed here, but reversed by the United States Supreme Court, without opinion, with a mere citation of Chambers v. State of Florida,309 U.S. 227, 60 S.Ct. 472, 84 L.Ed. 716, memoranda, Canty v. State of Alabama,309 U.S. 629, 60 S.Ct. 612, 84 L.Ed. 988.SeeCanty v. State,238 Ala. 384, 191 So. 260.

On the second trial the punishment was fixed at life imprisonment, and the judgment of conviction following the verdict of the jury was reversed here for erroneous instructions in respect to the defendant's defense of alibi.Canty v. State,242 Ala. 589, 7 So.2d 292, 319.

The last trial resulted in a conviction for murder in the first degree and life imprisonment.The record before us is free of questions involved in Chamber'scase, supra.

The major contention made on this appeal is that the evidence against the defendant is wholly circumstantial and is insufficient to warrant his conviction.This contention cannot be sustained.

The evidence, given by an eyewitness, Miss Lillian Ward, and the Surgeon, Dr. Blue, who treated Eunice Ward, the person alleged to have been killed, after her removal to the hospital, shows without dispute that said Eunice Ward died as the result of a fractured skull, an injury caused by force or violence unlawfully used by a person of the negro race.And the circumstances detailed by said eyewitness, as was said on the second appeal, shows "a most atrocious crime, the brutal murder of the deceased, Eunice Ward, and the grievous wounding of her sister, while out gathering wild flowers in a wooded area near the Masonic Home, a few miles out of Montgomery.The victim was a white woman, the murderer a negro man.The question of identity of the perpetrator was the controverted issue in the case; was Dave Canty the Man? * * *."

The eyewitness Miss Ward, who was also assaulted by the same negro that assaulted and killed her sister, candidly testified she could not and would not attempt to "positively" identify Canty as the assailant, yet in her best judgment he was the man.Her testimony was corroborated by the three young men who lived at the Masonic Home, and who were returning from Bermuda Knoll's Golf Club.The substance of their testimony is that as they were passing near the scene of the attack they stopped and started up in the woods to gather wild flowers and met a negro face to face as he was running away from the place of the crime and he turned and ran in an opposite direction.Just before they saw the negro they heard a noise that sounded like "beating the bushes."These young men testified as witnesses and positively identified the defendant as the man they saw.

The testimony of Miss Ward is also corroborated by the testimony of the bus driver who picked the defendant up on the corner of 5th and Mulberry Streets six minutes after 5 o'clock soon after the time the crime was committed, to the effect that when Canty got on the bus he appeared to be excited.And by the testimony of Hattie Howard, from whom defendant sought advice under his assumed name of "Rudy Ray" to the effect that, "He told me he was in trouble, and I asked him about this thing that happened to these women.I ask him if he was connected with it, and he kind of hesitated a little bit.He hesitated a few minutes and said 'I will tell you the truth I...