Gatliff v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 20 February 1908 |
| Citation | 107 S.W. 739 |
| Parties | GATLIFF v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Whitley County.
"Not to be officially reported."
J. S Gatliff was convicted of murder, and appeals. Reversed.
H. H Tye and Morrow & Stephens, for appellant.
Jas Breathitt, Atty. Gen., Tom B. McGregor, and Chas. H. Morris for the Commonwealth.
The appellant, J. S. Gatliff, was indicted by the grand jury of Whitley county, charged with the willful murder of Esbon Gilreath. A trial resulted in the conviction of the defendant, and of the judgment based upon the verdict of the jury he now complains.
As the conclusion we have reached with reference to some of the errors assigned by the appellant will result in the reversal of the judgment, we will discuss the facts as briefly as is consistent with illustrating the principles of law involved. The appellant was the marshal of Williamsburg, the county seat of Whitley county. For several days prior to the homicide, Gilreath had been on a visit to his parents, who lived in Williamsburg, and had been drinking heavily. On the day of the tragedy, and a few minutes before it took place, a man by the name of Skinner made some complaint to the appellant of the conduct of Gilreath, and he at once started to look up the deceased. In the meantime Gilreath had gone into a large barn, where his mules were, in order to hitch them to his wagon for the purpose of going out to his home in Whitley county. He was in the act of putting the harness on one of the mules when Gatliff came to the barn and undertook to arrest him. As to what happened from this point on, the evidence for the commonwealth and for the defendant is widely variant. The appellant's testimony is that he found Gilreath drunk and abusive, and that he, as city marshal undertook to arrest him, whereupon Gilreath resisted arrest and seized the marshal by the throat, and was choking him, and refused upon demand to desist; that thereupon he (the marshal), in order to protect himself from this unlawful assault, drew his pistol, an automatic Colt's revolver, and essayed to beat off his assailant by striking him over the head with the muzzle of the pistol; that while so doing, by accident, the pistol was discharged, the ball going through the head of Gilreath, killing him instantly. The evidence of the prosecution is that the marshal approached Gilreath, saying, "I want you," or "You will have to go with me," and, upon Gilreath's demanding what he had...
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Grimes v. McAnulty, 95-SC-745-MR
...may be entitled to an instruction on self-protection, despite his own testimony that the killing was accidental. Gatliff v. Commonwealth, 32 K.L.R. 1063, 107 S.W. 739 (1908). The line of cases cited by the majority in support of the proposition that claims of accident and self-protection ar......
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Grimes v. McAnulty
...may be entitled to an instruction on self-protection, despite his own testimony that the killing was accidental. Gatliff v. Commonwealth, 32 K.L.R. 1063, 107 S.W. 739 (1908). The line of cases cited by the majority in support of the proposition that claims of accident and self-protection ar......
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Gibson v. State
... ... defendant's testimony that he did not do the killing ... Reed v. State, 141 Ind. 116, 40 N.E. 525; ... Morris v. Commonwealth, 20 Ky. L. Rep. 402, ... 46 S.W. 491; Gatliff v. Commonwealth, 32 ... Ky. L. Rep. 1063, 107 S.W. 739 ... This ... court ... ...
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Keith v. Commonwealth
... ... 238) which reads: ... "If ... there be reasonable doubt of the defendant being proven to ... be guilty, he is entitled to an acquittal." ... See ... Commonwealth v. Stites, 190 Ky. 402, 227 S.W. 574; ... Mickey v. Commonwealth, 9 Bush, 593; Gatliff v ... Commonwealth, 107 S.W. 739, 32 Ky. Law Rep. 1063; ... Minniard v. Commonwealth, 158 Ky. 210, 164 S.W. 804; ... Breeden v. Commonwealth, 151 Ky. 217, 151 S.W. 407 ... 9 ... After the case had been submitted to the jury, and the jury ... had deliberated upon it for ... ...