Courson v. State
| Decision Date | 05 December 1933 |
| Citation | 113 Fla. 123,151 So. 383 |
| Parties | COURSON v. STATE. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to Circuit Court, Duval County; G. C. Gibbs, Judge.
George Courson, having been indicted for murder in the first degree was convicted of manslaughter, and he brings error.
Reversed and remanded for a new trial on a charge of manslaughter.
COUNSEL C. A. Avriett, of Jasper, for plaintiff in error.
Cary D Landis, Atty. Gen., and Roy Campbell, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
George Courson and Soloman Higginbotham were jointly indicted in Duval county for murder in the first degree. A joint trial resulted in a verdict of guilty of manslaughter against Courson who was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment in state prison. Higginbotham tried at the same time on the same evidence was acquitted.
Courson was captain of a state convict camp. The state's contention, under its evidence, was that a convict in Courson's camp by the name of Arthur Maillefert was killed through culpable negligence of Courson, the captain and of Higginbotham, a convict guard, while inflicting disciplinary punishment on Maillefert in a punishment cell referred to as a 'sweat box,' which was designed to be used for the close confinement of unruly convicts.
A careful study of the record has convinced a majority of the Supreme Court that, in view of the jury's acquittal of Higginbotham, the guard, whose guilt was as much, if not more demonstrated by the evidence upon which the prosecution relied for conviction, than is that of Courson, the captain who was found guilty, the ends of justice will be best subserved by awarding Courson a new trial, where his case can be reconsidered by another jury in the light of the charge made in the indictment as it will stand against Courson alone upon remand of the cause for further proceedings to be had in the criminal court of record on a charge of manslaughter.
Where a verdict in a criminal case acquitting one and convicting another appears to have been arrived at with reference to the convicted defendant, by considerations outside the evidence as reflected in the verdict found which appears to be irreconcilable with the state's theory of the evidence, a new trial should be awarded in order that the conviction of the one defendant may not be left shrouded in any uncertainty or doubt as to whether the accused has been...
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Woodward v. State
... ... the uncertainties appearing in the evidence, and the strong ... doubt which the evidence raises as to the defendants' ... guilt of the revolting crime with which they were charged and ... found guilty, that the ends of justice will be subserved by ... the granting of a new trial. See Courson v. State, ... 151 So. 383, decided at the present term; Hammock v ... State, 99 Fla. 1119, 128 So. 267; Fuller v ... State, 92 Fla. 873, 110 So. 528; Council v. State ... (Fla.) 149 So. 13; Calloway v. State, 152 So ... 429, decided at the present term (opinion filed November 10, ... ...
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Parker v. State
...for the defendant Earl Parker and W. M. Pringle.' Plaintiff in error relies on what was said in the opinion in the case of Courson v. State, 113 Fla. 123, 151 So. 383, where this court 'A careful study of the record has convinced a majority of the Supreme Court that, in view of the jury's a......
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Williams v. State
... ... record fails to disclose substantial evidence of a ... premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed ... It, therefore, appears that the ends of justice will be ... subserved by reversing the judgment and remanding the cause ... [168 So. 814] ... new trial. See Courson v. State, 113 Fla. 123, 151 ... [127 Fla. 247] So. 383; Woodward et al. v. State, ... 113 Fla. 301, 151 So. 509, and cases there cited ... It is ... so ordered ... Reversed ... ELLIS, ... P.J., and TERRELL, J., concur ... WHITFIELD, ... C.J., and ... ...