Duke v. State
| Decision Date | 15 July 1932 |
| Citation | 142 So. 886,106 Fla. 205 |
| Parties | DUKE v. STATE. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
Error to Circuit Court, Walton County; A. G. Campbell, Judge.
Tatum Duke was convicted of manslaughter on two counts of an indictment charging him respectively with manslaughter by the negligent operation of an automobile and with manslaughter by the operation of an automobile while defendant was intoxicated, and he brings error.
Reversed for a new trial.
COUNSEL Philip D. Beall, of Pensacola, for plaintiff in error.
Cary D Landis, Atty. Gen., and Roy Campbell, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Tatum Dake was convicted of the crime of manslaughter in the circuit court of Walton county and sentenced to five years imprisonment. The indictment was in two counts. The first charged manslaughter by the negligent operation of an automobile. The second charged manslaughter by the operation of an automobile by the defendant while he was intoxicated. The verdict was a general verdict of guilty on both counts as charged.
On the morning of July 13, 1931, one Hiram Wilkinson was found in a dying condition on the Glendale road in Walton county. He had a wound on his head and a slight bruise on one leg and one arm. There were no eye witnesses called to testify as to the connection of the defendant with the injuries which occasioned death.
The state's case was sought to be made out by circumstantial evidence to the effect that, on the day before the body of Wilkinson was found, the defendant had borrowed a Buick automobile in De Funiak Springs for the purpose of going to his mother's home on the Glendale road where the body was found; that later this car was found with a large dent in the front part of the right fender, the right headlight out of line, and the right cowl light missing. The car was also minus a door handle which was found inside the car, while in the cracked portion of the cowl was found certain hair which, though of a different shade and color from that of the deceased, was claimed by the state to have been his.
The deceased was obviously killed on Sunday night, July 12th. His body was found about daylight Monday morning, July 13th. The Buick car, which had been borrowed from its owner, was returned to him Wednesday morning by parking it on the street in the city of De Funiak Springs. From the time the car was borrowed until it was returned, it was seen with at least three people in it, other than the defendant, one of them being the defendant's sister.
Over the objection of the defendant, testimony was admitted that plaintiff in error and his father were seen together Monday afternoon, and that witness smelled liquor on the breath of each of them. Testimony was also admitted over the defendant's objection that defendant's father who was not...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Spitcaufsky v. Hatten
......BELL, Treasurer of the State of Missouri; KANSAS CITY, a Municipal Corporation; L.P. COOKINGHAM, City Manager of Kansas City, HORACE R. McMORRIS, Director of Finance of Kansas ......
-
Spitcaufsky v. Hatten
......Bell, Treasurer of the State of Missouri; Kansas City, a Municipal Corporation; L. P. Cookingham, City Manager of Kansas City, Horace R. McMorris, Director of Finance of Kansas ......
-
Special v. W. Boca Med. Ctr.
...witnesses is inadmissible to prove guilt unless the threats are shown to be attributable to the defendant.”) (citing Duke v. State, 106 Fla. 205, 142 So. 886 (1932) ; Jones v. State, 385 So.2d 1042 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980) ; Coleman v. State, 335 So.2d 364 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976) ); see also State v......
-
Conley v. State
...to testify are inadmissible to prove a defendant's guilt unless it is shown that the defendant authorized the threat. Duke v. State, 106 Fla. 205, 142 So. 886 (1932); Jones v. State, 385 So.2d 1042 (Fla. 1st DCA 1980); Reeves v. State, 423 So.2d 1017 (Fla. 4th DCA However, Riggs' alleged re......