Gafford v. State

• Decision Date: 11 January 1899
• Citation: 122 Ala. 54,25 So. 10
• Parties: GAFFORD v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

25 So. 10

122 Ala. 54

GAFFORD v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Alabama

January 11, 1899

Appeal from circuit court, Butler county; John R. Tyson, Judge.

John A Gafford was convicted of murder, and appeals. Reversed.

Tyson and Haralson, JJ., dissenting.

The appellant, John A. Gafford, was indicted and tried for the murder of Francis Bartow Lloyd, was convicted of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to be hung. The material facts of the case, necessary to an understanding of the decision on the present appeal, are sufficiently stated in the opinion. Upon the introduction of all the evidence, the defendant requested the court to give to the jury the following written charges, and separately excepted to the court's refusal to give each of them as asked: (1) "The court charges the jury that if they believe from the evidence in this case, beyond all reasonable doubt, that deceased, at the time of the killing, was attacking, or in the act of attacking, the defendant with a deadly weapon then the defendant was not bound to retreat, but had the right to stand and defend himself, provided he was without fault in bringing on the difficulty which resulted in the killing." (2) "The court charges the jury that unless the evidence against the defendant should be such as to exclude to a moral certainty every hypothesis or supposition but that of his guilt of the offense imputed to him, the jury must not convict the defendant." (3) "The court charges the jury that, if the defendant had reason to apprehend an attack, he had a legal right to bear arms in defense of himself."

Terry Richardson and James Weatherly, for appellant.

William C. Fitts, Atty. Gen., for the State.

SHARPE J.

The defendant was indicted, tried, and convicted on the charge of murder, and sentenced to capital punishment. The material questions reserved for review by this court arise from the rulings of the trial court upon the admissibility of testimony and the refusal of instructions requested by the defendant. We have, however, given to the entire record the careful scrutiny required by the vital importance of the case to the defendant, and the solemn duty imposed upon us by law and, at the same time, impressed, on the one hand, with the necessity, for the repose and security of society, of sustaining all legal convictions in cases of this character, and, on the other, with our duty to see that the accused is not deprived of any right necessary or proper to the full presentation of his defense, and the enjoyment, to the fullest extent authorized by law, of his constitutional right to a full, fair, and impartial trial by jury.

There are certain facts bearing upon the homicide that are undisputed, and as to which there is no conflict in the testimony, a brief summary of which is necessary to be given in order to a clear statement of the conclusions we have reached upon the rulings of the circuit court upon the testimony. On the morning of Monday, August 25, 1897, deceased visited Greenville, in Butler county, Ala., riding there in his buggy, as had been his habit for some time. On the afternoon of the same day he was returning in his buggy, alone, from Greenville to his home. At about 6 o'clock of that afternoon he came upon defendant, who was on or near the public road, with his gun, at a point not far from defendant's home. At or near the time of this meeting two rapid reports of a gun were heard by several persons who were near the locality, and immediately thereafter the defendant was seen walking away with his gun, and, upon meeting two other persons near at hand, told them he had shot deceased, but did not know whether he was dead, and requesting them to do what they could for deceased. Deceased was found by these two parties, and others, lying dead in the road, with gunshot wounds on his body, and a pistol, which was recognized as belonging to deceased, lying on the ground about five or six feet away from the body. There were two eyewitnesses to the homicide besides the defendant himself, one testifying for the state and the other for the defendant, and their statements are altogether irreconcilable. The statement of the state's witness makes out a case of unprovoked, willful, premeditated, and deliberate murder by lying in wait with a deadly weapon; while the defendant's witness makes deceased the aggressor with a deadly weapon, and discloses a shooting in self-defense by the defendant. The testimony of this witness corresponds in all respects with that of defendant himself, except that the latter gives a conversation between him and deceased which his witness stated he (witness) could not hear. The state's witness was contradicted in some collateral statements made by her, and other witnesses testified she had told them she did not see the killing. The defendant's witness was shown to have resided, when the homicide occurred, on defendant's place. Numerous other witnesses were examined, both on behalf of the prosecution and the defense, but it is not necessary to refer in detail to their testimony. Among other things, their testimony shows threats, both recent and remote, on the part of deceased against defendant's life, and from some of said testimony it might be inferred that the defendant had made like threats against deceased, and that the threats of each were communicated to the other. It is also inferable, from unchallenged testimony, that these threats grew out of certain rumors connecting the names of defendant's widowed sister and deceased in an unfavorable light. The defendant offered to introduce proof of an adulterous relation between deceased and his sister at the time of and before the homicide, as well as specific acts of adultery on their part, but the court refused to admit the testimony so offered, and to this action of the court the defendant excepted. If the question of self-defense were out of the case, it would be quite clear that all testimony of this character would be inadmissible for the purpose of justifying the murder, and would be equally unavailing to reduce the killing from murder to manslaughter, unless the circumstances of such provocation were of such a character as were reasonably calculated to provoke sudden passion and resentment, and the homicide was traceable solely to the influence of passion thus engendered. For example, if the defendant had discovered deceased and his sister in the act of adultery, and, under the influence of sudden passion thus aroused, had slain him, then the killing would not have been willful, malicious, deliberate, and premeditated, or murder in the first degree, but murder in the second degree, or, according to circumstances, manslaughter in the first degree. Ex parte Sloane, 95 Ala. 22, 11 So. 14; Watson v. State, 82 Ala. 12, 2 So. 455. It is not necessary, however, to consider the question of the admissibility of this testimony in this aspect, for the reason that it was not and could not have been offered for any such purpose, inasmuch as the defendant, in his own testimony, negatives the idea that he acted upon any such provocation, and rests his case entirely upon the right of self-defense.

The real question, therefore, is, would the testimony offered to be introduced by defendant have any tendency, even though slight, to shed light on the main inquiry as to self-defense which was clouded by conflicting and hopelessly irreconcilable testimony? In Mattison v. State, 55 Ala. 224, we said: "In inquiries of fact, dependent on circumstantial evidence for their solution, no certain rule can be laid down which will define, with unerring accuracy, what collateral facts and circumstances are sufficiently proximate to justify their admission in evidence. *** Whatever tends to shed light on the main inquiry, and does not withdraw attention from such main inquiry by obtruding upon the minds of the jury matters which are foreign, or of questionable pertinency, is, as a general rule, admissible evidence." In view of the conflicting testimony as to which of the two, deceased or the defendant, was the aggressor in the unfortunate tragedy, would the offered testimony shed any light on that question? Could the jury fairly determine that question without knowledge of facts which might have exerted an influence upon, or supplied the motive to, one or the other to become the aggressor? Or did the knowledge by the defendant of the facts sought to be proven reasonably exert any influence upon the mind of defendant in interpreting deceased's threats, motive, or conduct? Or, in other words, would knowledge of these facts by defendant authorize him to regard, as hostile and dangerous, threats, motive, or conduct on deceased's part which, in the absence of that knowledge, might not have justified that conclusion? In Ball v. State, 29 Tex.App. 125, 14 S.W. 1012, the court, upon a much similar question, says: "It was important to the defendant that the jury should be fully informed as to the true cause of the enmity entertained by the deceased against him and the character of that enmity. Such information would enable the jury, in determining the issue of self-defense, to view the acts of the deceased from the defendant's standpoint. Without this information, the jury could not know, as the defendant did, the settled, determined, and deadly character of the deceased's hatred towards him, and the true cause of that hatred. This testimony throws light, not only upon the motive actuating the deceased in attacking the defendant, but upon the conduct of the defendant upon that occasion, and the motive which actuated him to kill the deceased. It tends to show that he had reasonable ground to apprehend that the attack made upon him was intended by the deceased to be a deadly one. It gives character to the threats, motive,...