Gibbs v. State, 39247
| Decision Date | 07 February 1955 |
| Docket Number | No. 39247,39247 |
| Citation | 77 So.2d 705,223 Miss. 1 |
| Parties | Newman GIBBS v. STATE of Mississippi. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Sims & Sims, Columbus, for appellant.
J. P. Coleman, Atty. Gen., by Wm. E. Cresswell, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Newman Gibbs, the appellant, was jointly indicted with Xerxie Taylor and Melvin Pickle for the murder of one Laughton Pounders. Severance was granted and Taylor was first tried and convicted of manslaughter. Then Gibbs was tried and convicted of manslaughter, and he appeals.
Pounders was killed in or near the road that runs in front of a 'honky-tonk' operated by George Sisk in the eastern part of Monroe County. The Sisk place was situated about 100 or 200 feet from the road. A light hung from a tree in front of the establishment. It was Sunday, and various parties, including those mentioned herein, had been coming and going to and from the place all day as the spirits moved them. Most of them had been drinking beer or whiskey and some had been dancing. About 8:30 P. M., Gibbs and his wife got into an argument; they went out of the Sisk place toward the road, quarreling as they went. When Gibbs and his wife got to the ditch beside the road, Gibbs struck his wife and knocked her into the ditch; Mrs. Gibbs began screaming and calling out, 'help, murder'--prophetic words. What happened in the ensuing moments during which Pounders was killed is conflicting to a considerable extent.
The State's two main witnesses were Dill and Hughes. We shall first state the version given by Dill: When Gibbs knocked his wife down into the ditch, he walked away leaving her screaming; Pounders, Taylor and Pickle ran out of the Sisk establishment; Pounders was the first to reach Mrs. Gibbs, who was still lying in the ditch; Pounders stooped over to pick up Mrs. Gibbs; Taylor, a brother of Mrs. Gibbs, ran up and hit Pounders; Pounders straightened up, and, being a large man and an amateur boxer, landed a blow that knocked Taylor approximately 20 feet; Taylor got up and charged at Pounders a second time, and Pounders again landed a blow and Taylor went down; then Gibbs came up from Pounders' right rear and grabbed him about the neck or shoulders; then Pickle grabbed Pounders by the legs, whereupon Pounders said, 'Turn me loose and fight me one at a time'; Taylor charged into Pounders again and stabbed him twice with a knife, once in the shoulder and once in the neck. Pounders began bleeding from the neck (his jugular vein was severed); Taylor backed up and witness Dill took his knife, closed it, and placed it in Taylor's pocket. Dill then took Pounders to the hospital where he shortly expired.
It appears that the fight was spontaneous; there was no conspiracy between Pickle, Gibbs, and Taylor, nor circumstances from which preconcert could have reasonably been inferred.
Hughes, another State witness, said he was standing around some trees in front of the Sisk place when Gibbs and his wife came out of the building; that Taylor and Pounders came out running 'just like two mules hitched to a plow,' meaning they were running side by side. Hughes said that Dill did not arrive on the scene in his automobile until after the fight was over, and Hughes did not see Pounders knock Taylor down twice as testified by Dill. Dill said that he did not see Hughes at all. Taylor admitted the cutting and said that Gibbs was not there when he cut Pounders. Hughes stated that Gibbs was the first one to strike Pounders.
Appellant made a statement to officers after his arrest in which he admitted that he took hold of Pounders, and after Taylor hit him he got blood on his (Gibbs') shirt. Appellant admitted knocking his wife into the ditch. He testified at the trial that he left her in the ditch and walked down the road, after which he saw people 'bunched up'; that he was not holding Pounders when the cutting took place; that he did not see the fight and did not know who started it; that he got blood on his shirt when he went back to where the people were and Pounders ran into him; that he suspected his brother-in-law, Taylor, did the cutting because he knew Taylor was pretty quick with a knife. Gibbs searched Taylor for a knife after the killing, according to his evidence.
The State's instructions Nos. one and two presented to the jury the issue of whether appellant 'aided, abetted and assisted' Taylor in killing the deceased. Appellant contends this was error in that there was no evidence that he aided, abetted or assisted Taylor in the killing. This contention has given the Court much concern.
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State v. Shon
...* * *' Johnson v. United States, 195 F.2d 673, 675 (8th Cir., 1952). See also State v. Ham, 238 N.C. 94, 76 S.E.2d 346; Gibbs v. State, 223 Mis. 1, 77 So.2d 705; State v. Johnson, 57 N.M. 716, 263 P.2d An aider and abettor may have a different criminal intent from the principal actor and ma......
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...a community of unlawful purposes at the time of the act and some participation in the act in furtherance thereof); Gibbs v. State, 223 Miss. 1, 6, 77 So.2d 705, 707 (1955) (Aiding and abetting involves participation in the criminal ¶ 91. One who aids and abets necessarily enters into an agr......
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Malone v. State, 56053
...a community of unlawful purposes at the time of the act and some participation in the act in furtherance thereof.); Gibbs v. State, 223 Miss. 1, 6, 77 So.2d 705, 707 (1955) (Aiding and abetting involves participation in the criminal act); Williams v. State, 463 So.2d 1064, 1066 (Miss.1985) ......
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