Davis v. State
| Decision Date | 02 July 1907 |
| Citation | 152 Ala. 82,44 So. 545 |
| Parties | DAVIS v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Bibb County; B. M. Miller, Judge.
Jim Davis was convicted of willfully setting fire to a corncrib and he appeals. Affirmed.
The indictment charges that, before the finding, Jim Davis willfully set fire to and burned a corncrib of P. D. Lee alias Joe Lee, against the peace and dignity of the state of Alabama. Ras Boyd, a state's witness, testified that he had a talk with defendant at a certain place, and in the conversation defendant said that he burned the corncrib just because he had nothing else to do, and "at the same time voluntarily stated to me that he was trying to get up a crowd to run old man Lee off." After the witness had testified to these facts, the defendant entered a motion to exclude the testimony which was overruled. The defendant further moved the court, after all the evidence in the case was in, to exclude all the evidence in the case as to tracks, first because the tracks testified about do not indicate the presence or proximity of the defendant, or tend to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime of which he is charged, and because it is illegal and incompetent testimony. This motion was overruled.
The defendant then requested the following written charges, which were refused: (4) General affirmative charge.
Motion was made in arrest of judgment, because the indictment in the cause charged a misdemeanor, and this court was without authority of law and jurisdiction to try the case, and for that section 4337 of the Code of 1896 is void and unconstitutional, in that it makes it a felony for a person to burn his own house, and for that the indictment is insufficient to support the judgment, in that it fails to charge that the alleged corncrib contained corn at the time it was burned. This motion was also denied, and defendant was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of three years, from which judgment and sentence he appeals.
Logan Vandergraff & Fuller, for appellant.
Alexander M. Garber, Atty. Gen., for the State.
The statute makes the willful setting fire to or burning of a corncrib arson in the second degree, whether the crib contains corn or not. Therefore the motion in arrest of judgment was without merit, and was properly overruled. Code 1896, § 4337; Cook's Case, 83 Ala. 62, 3 So. 849, 3 Am. St. Rep. 688; Thomas' Case, 116 Ala. 461, 22 So. 666.
The appellant's counsel concede that the motion to exclude the evidence of the witness Ras Boyd is without merit, and state in their brief that they do not insist that the court erred in...
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Smith v. State
...an inference against defendant's innocence. Hargrove v. State, 147 Ala. 97, 41 So. 972, 119 Am.St.Rep. 60, 10 Ann.Cas. 1126; Davis v. State, 152 Ala. 82, 44 So. 545; v. State, 97 Ala. 57, 12 So. 54. Charge 2F was covered by given charge 21. The lower court properly refused charge 24, for th......
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Monk v. State, 3 Div. 638
...of criminal liability or of such facts as unless justified directly and necessarily implied such liability. * * *.' See Davis v. State, 152 Ala. 82, 44 So. 545. 'A confession, to be receivable as such, must be an admission by accused that he is guilty of the precise crime with which he is c......
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