Fowler v. State

Decision Date20 December 1910
PartiesFOWLER v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Supreme Court

Appeal from Circuit Court, Monroe County; John T. Lackland, Judge.

Newton Fowler was convicted of larceny, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Miller & Miller, for appellant.

Alexander M. Garber, Atty. Gen., for the State.

SAYRE J.

Whether the defendant should be given a continuance, or whether the state should be put to an admission of defendant's showing for the testimony of the absent witness as a condition upon which the trial was to be had presently, were matters within the discretion of the trial court, not to be revised except for abuse, and the court had the right to inform that discretion by taking evidence as to the value of the testimony of the witness in any event. No abuse appears. No compulsory process was requested, and hence was not refused. There was no error in ruling the defendant to trial without his witness and without an admission of the offered showing.

The defendant was indicted for the larceny of $27, lawful money of the United States. The evidence went to show the loss of about the sum charged. The evidence of the corpus delicti was circumstantial, but on consideration of such evidence, along with several confessions shown, it was for the jury to assign to it the proper weight, and to say whether defendant's guilt had been established beyond a reasonable doubt. Ryan v. State, 100 Ala. 94, 14 So. 868.

Evidence that the defendant, after a conversation with witnesses in reference to the money that had been lost, signed a note for $22 "to pay back the money" was competent as evidence of an incriminating admission in the nature of a confession. This evidence was not open to the objections taken to it which were that it constituted a "variance" from the offense charged in the indictment in that it related to a smaller sum, and that it was irrelevant. It related to the offense charged. In trials for larceny it has always been considered that evidence of the taking of a smaller or larger sum than that charged might be received, and the implied admission of guilt involved in giving the note, under the circumstances testified to by the state's witness, was evidence relevant to the charge. In connection with the evidence touching the execution of the note and its attendant circumstances, the state offered testimony which went to show that the giving of the note was the free act of the defendant uninfluenced by hope of favor or fear of harm. The defendant seems to have...

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13 cases
  • Knowles v. Blue
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • January 18, 1923
    ... ... Geo. W. Phalin Lumber Co., 196 Ala. 362, 71 So ... 989; Birmingham Paint, etc., Co., v. Gillespie, 163 ... Ala. 408, 50 So. 1032; Kelly v. State, 160 Ala. 48, ... 49 So. 535; Ex parte Scudder-Gale Gro. Co., 120 Ala. 434, 25 ... So. 44; Denson v. Stanley, 17 Ala. App. 198, 84 So ... 770 ... witness or evidence, the courts have agreed: (1) That the ... expected evidence must be material and competent (Fowler ... v. State, 170 Ala. 66, 54 So. 115; Rodgers v ... State, 144 Ala. 32, 40 So. 572; Walker v ... State, 117 Ala. 85, 23 So. 670; 1 Wm ... ...
  • Whitten v. State
    • United States
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • July 7, 1923
    ... ... There was therefore no error in overruling the objection to ... this evidence. Stiner v. State, 78 Fla. 647, 84 So ... 565; Bates v. State, 78 Fla. 672, 84 So. 373; ... McDonald v. State. 70 Fla. 250, 70 So. 24; Sims ... v. State, 59 Fla. 38, 52 So. 198; Fowler v ... State, 170 Ala. 65, 54 So. 115; Godau v. State, ... 179 Ala. 27, 60 So. 908; Stone v. State, 208 Ala ... 50, 93 So. 706; McCleary v. State, 122 Md. 394, 89 ... A. 1100; Tarasinski v. State, 146 Wis. 508, 131 N.W ... 889; State v. Brennan, 164 Mo. 487, 65 S.W. 325 ... ...
  • Castona v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Appeals
    • April 20, 1920
    ... ... discretion of the trial court. Sanderson v. State, ... 168 Ala. 109, 53 So. 109; Gilbert v. State, 2 ... Ala.App. 94, 57 So. 127. And it was not error for the court ... to require the defendant to make a showing as to what the ... absent witness would testify. Fowler v. State, 170 ... Ala. 65, 54 So. 115 ... The ... answers to the questions as to where defendant was living ... were proper as showing that the defendant was not defending ... his home from the attack of one who was unlawfully attempting ... to enter. It was therefore proper to ... ...
  • Patterson v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • May 16, 1918
    ... ... if, upon the whole evidence, the jury are satisfied beyond a ... reasonable doubt (a) that the crime has been committed, and ... (b) that the defendant is the guilty perpetrator, it is the ... duty of the jury to convict. Ryan v. State, 100 Ala ... 94, 14 So. 868; Fowler v. State, 170 Ala. 65, 54 So ... 115. A mere confession without other proof of the crime will ... not support a conviction. Calvert v. State, 165 Ala ... 99), 51 So. 311; Harden v. State, 109 Ala. 50, 19 ... The ... evidence bearing on the fact of tracks of two persons, ... ...
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