Gibson v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 24 September 1920
• Citation: 224 S.W. 657,189 Ky. 89
• Parties: GIBSON ET AL. v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

224 S.W. 657

189 Ky. 89

GIBSON ET AL. v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

September 24, 1920

Appeal from Circuit Court, Clinton County.

Steve Gibson and others were convicted of murder and appeal. Affirmed.

Bertram & Bertram, of Monticello, and James Denton, of Somerset, for appellants.

W. N Flippin, of Somerset, and Chas. I. Dawson, Atty. Gen., and Chas. W. Logan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the Commonwealth.

QUIN J.

Appellants Marion Gibson, George Gibson, and Whiz Lee are respectively the two sons and son-in-law of the appellant Steve Gibson the four of whom, together with Gilbert Gibson, were indicted for the murder of Marvin Cummings, a deputy sheriff of Clinton county. The tragedy occurred at the courthouse in Albany, about sundown, March 6, 1920. Gilbert Gibson having disappeared, the others were tried and found guilty; three of them were given sentences of 18 years in the penitentiary and the fourth, George Gibson, was given two years.

The facts and circumstances surrounding the crime may be substantially stated as follows:

Some time previous to March, 1920, Gilbert Gibson and Whiz Lee had been indicted, the latter for moonshining. After his acquittal Whiz endeavored to get some whisky which had been taken from him, but it had disappeared. This provoked the senior Gibson to compose a couplet reflecting upon the character of the sheriff and his deputies, and which he sung on several occasions, much to the dislike and disapproval of decedent. The singing of these lines and the arrest of the two above mentioned brought about strained relations between the parties.

Ten or fifteen minutes before the killing Marion Gibson and his brother George started through the courthouse for the purpose they testify of going to the barber shop on the south side of the public square. At this time decedent and two companions were seated in the sheriff's office. Having been requested by Marion Gibson to come to the door, decedent left his companions and went with Marion to the south end of the hall, and in a few minutes was heard to say repeatedly "Don't crowd me." In the meantime some one had been rattling the doors of the courthouse, and people were heard running through the hall. The two companions hastened to the hallway, and there they found decedent with his back to the balustrade, surrounded by the four Gibsons and Lee, still calling out not to crowd him.

Steve Gibson struck at decedent, whereupon decedent drew his pistol from his overcoat pocket and struck at Steve. Both blows fell short of their intended victims.

One of the companions grabbed Marion Gilbert, the other held decedent, just as the latter, with an oath, ordered the crowd out of the courthouse. They started toward the north end of the building, proceeded a short distance, then everybody stopped, and, to use the language of one of the witnesses, "they seemed to be mixing it up." At this time decedent fired first at Steve Gibson and then at Marion. Because of the darkness and the smoke from the two shots the witnesses say is was impossible to tell just who was doing the shooting, but in the course of about half a minute 20-odd shots had been fired, 8 of which entered the body of the deputy sheriff, resulting in his instant death.

The county clerk, who left the building just before the killing, says the two south doors and one of the north doors were locked, and he closed or locked the remaining north door when he went out. As the doors were closed one of the appellants, speaking of the Gibson boys, was heard to remark, "He has locked them up."

Several witnesses testify to having heard a shrill whistle and peculiar yell about this time, and almost immediately thereafter they saw Steve Gibson running around the courthouse, trying first one door and then the other, finally entering through the north door. As he did so Whiz Lee and Gilbert Gibson,...