Drane v. State

• Decision Date: 13 January 1908
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: DUDLEY DRANE v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

45 So. 149

92 Miss. 180

DUDLEY DRANE v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

Supreme Court of Mississippi

January 13, 1908

October 1907

FROM the circuit court of Webster county, HON. J. T. DUNN, Judge.

Drane appellant, was jointly indicted with Bud Burns for the murder of Jeff Harden; all parties were negroes. A severance being granted, appellant was tried separately, convicted, sentenced to the penitentiary for life, and appealed to the supreme court.

The deceased, Harden, was decoyed from his home at night by some one calling to him that he was needed at the home of a neighbor; and while on his way thither he was shot in the back and subsequently beaten with a club. His lantern was burning when he left home, and was presumably burning when he was attacked. He was found lying in the road the next morning, and brought to his home where, after lingering for some hours, he died from his injuries. Appellant and Burns were charged jointly with the crime, and, at the time of appellant's trial, Burns had been tried and convicted and had taken steps to appeal his case to the supreme court. There were other than the indicted parties no eye-witnesses of the tragedy, and the state relied to show appellant's guilt upon the testimony of one Latham, detailing a conversation between Burns and appellant, overheard by witness, and the testimony of a negro preacher, Wall, giving the dying declaration of the deceased. Latham testified that on the day before the homicide he overheard a conversation between appellant and Burns, against whom--as shown by other evidence--deceased had been subpoenaed to appear as a witness in a criminal prosecution for unlawfully selling intoxicants. Latham's testimony touching the conversation was undisputed and it is stated substantially in the opinion of the court. Latham further testified that on the morning after the homicide, when he and a number of men, of which appellant was one, were told that Harden had been killed, appellant without having in any way been asked about the matter remarked "I don't know anything about it. I was at home in bed." The testimony of the negro preacher, Wall also undisputed, was admitted in evidence over appellant's objection, and was, in effect, that he was called in to see Harden on the morning after the shooting and found him weak and in bed; that the wounded man was able to invite the witness into his room and stated that he was trusting in the Lord, knew he would never get well, and, after being raised in his bed, said that "Alex Johnson got me into this trouble. Alex turned the boys up and had me summoned as a witness, and I told the truth about the matter; Alex is sick, and from what I learn, will not live long, and they thought they would put me out of the way, and three men were engaged in it."

Being asked by the witness who these three men were, the dying man said, with difficulty, "Bud Burns and Dud Drane, and " but was unable to state the name of the third party, dying in a few minutes afterward. The appellant did not testify as a witness on the trial. On motion for a new trial appellant assigned as error the action of the court in admitting the testimony of Latham and of Wall, and also the remarks of the district attorney in his argument before the jury to the effect that nobody had denied what Latham had said on the witness stand; the action of the trial court in touching the remarks, are stated in the opinion of the court.

Affirmed.

T. W. Scott, for appellant.

It was error for the court below to admit the testimony of Latham showing the alleged conversation between appellant and Burns. The only purpose for which it could be used would be to...