Gunn v. State, 7 Div. 739.

• Citation: 24 Ala.App. 494,136 So. 870
• Decision Date: 04 August 1931
• Docket Number: 7 Div. 739.
• Parties: GUNN v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals

136 So. 870

24 Ala.App. 494

GUNN v. STATE.

7 Div. 739.

Court of Appeals of Alabama

August 4, 1931

Rehearing Denied Oct. 6, 1931.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Talladega County; R. B. Carr, Judge.

Maud Gunn was convicted of murder in the second degree, and she appeals.

Affirmed.

L. H Ellis, of Columbiana, and Marion H. Sims, of Talladega, for appellant.

Thos E. Knight, Jr., Atty. Gen., and Thos. S. Lawson, Asst. Atty Gen., for the State.

SAMFORD J.

The defendant was indicted on a charge of murder in the first degree, in that she killed her husband, Wm. Gunn, by shooting him with a pistol. The evidence tended to prove that, while the defendant and her husband, Wm. Gunn, were riding in a closed car, about 8 o'clock at night, on the road leading from their house to Oxford, Ala., and at a point within a short distance of a certain bridge, the deceased was shot one time with a 32-20 Smith & Wesson pistol, the shot being at close range, entering the left breast about two inches above the nipple, ranging slightly downward through the body, coming out under the right shoulder blade, and burying itself in the back of the front seat, from which it was extracted.

There was evidence tending to prove that she had in her possession at the time of the killing at 32-20 Smith and Wesson pistol which shortly prior thereto had been loaned to her by one Jack Persons, a police officer of Sylacauga; that this pistol with fresh blood on it was found on the side of the road near where the defendant claims deceased was shot; that it had been recently fired one time, and it was found that the bullet extracted from the back of the seat where deceased was sitting fitted the exploded shell in the defendant's pistol. There was evidence tending to prove that deceased, while industrious, was a man with small income, working as a laborer at $2.50 per day, the aggregate per month being about $50, and that in addition he and his wife ran a small country store and filling station from which the gross sales amounted to about $300 a month; that in July, 1928, deceased insured his life with the Woodmen of the World (in which he already had a policy for $1,000) for $10,000. In October, 1928, he took out a policy in the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for $5,000, and in March, 1929, one for $5,000. All of these policies were in force at the time deceased was killed and defendant and her daughter were named as beneficiaries. The aggregate premiums on these policies were $752 per annum and were paid by the defendant out of the joint funds of herself and husband, by checks which she gave on the bank. There was testimony by defendant tending to explain all of the foregoing facts consistent with the defendant's innocence, the defendant claiming and testifying in her own behalf that as she and her husband were traveling along the road they were held up and robbed, and that in the robbery one of the robbers reached across her as she was sitting at the driver's wheel and shot her husband. On the other hand, there were facts and circumstances tending to impeach the explanation, as also the general character of defendant. These were all questions for the jury,...