Hall v. Com.

• Citation: 231 Ky. 473,21 S.W.2d 799
• Parties: HALL v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Decision Date: 12 November 1929
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

21 S.W.2d 799

231 Ky. 473

HALL v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky

November 12, 1929

Appeal from Circuit Court, Floyd County.

Bennie Hall was convicted of manslaughter, and he appeals. Affirmed.

Caudill & Tackett, of Prestonsburg, for appellant.

J. W Cammack, Atty. Gen., and Douglas C. Vest, of Frankfort, for the Commonwealth.

LOGAN J.

The appellant was indicted on the charge of murder jointly with four others. He demanded a separate trial. He was found guilty of manslaughter, and his punishment fixed at 21 years in the school of reform and the penitentiary. He was a boy at the time of the commission of the offense, between the age of 14 and 15 years. He was charged with the killing of Ralph Mullins. Dink Hall, his mother, who was indicted with him lived in the suburbs in the mining town of Wheelwright. Mullins and his wife lived in a house about 75 or 100 yards below the home of Mrs. Hall. On Sunday, December 23, 1928, a little colored boy by the name of McDuff Thomas passed by the home of Ralph Mullins late in the afternoon. He and one of the Mullins boys, a son of the man who was killed, engaged in a difficulty. Mrs. Mullins was drawn into this difficulty. Mrs. Hall and her four children also became involved in a wordy combat with Mrs. Mullins. The bantering resulted in Mrs. Hall and her four children going towards the home of Mullins. Mrs. Mullins appeared to have proceeded towards them. When they met, the commonwealth showed, by the evidence, that Mrs. Hall and her children, some of them grown, surrounded Mrs. Mullins, and a fight started. The appellant struck Mrs. Mullins on the head with his pistol. About this time Ralph Mullins came out of his home and protested against the striking of his wife. Mrs. Hall told the appellant to shoot him, and he did so. Mullins staggered back into his home and died immediately.

The appellant relies on self-defense. He claims that Mullins came out with a pistol in his hand and began to fire the pistol at his mother or others in the crowd, and that he shot in self-defense.

The court does not know whether the witnesses who testified for the commonwealth detailed the facts truly, or whether it was the witnesses for the defendant who told the truth. The probabilities are that the truth was somewhere between the two divergent statements as to what happened. The jury was the proper tribunal to reach a conclusion as to the truth. It found against the contention of appellant. There is abundant evidence to support the verdict.

The appellant was ably represented by skilled attorneys and every right vouchsafed to him by the law appears to have been protected, but his counsel complain that errors were committed at the trial which should require a reversal of the case.

The first point is that appellant is less than 17 years of age and that the circuit court was without jurisdiction, as there was no waiver of the jurisdiction of the county court. Section 331e5, Ky. St., provides that, when a person within the provisions of the law relating to juvenile offenders is arrested, he must be taken before the county judge, and the county judge has exclusive jurisdiction to deal with the offender. There is, however, this provision in that section:

"The court may in its discretion in any case of a delinquent child brought before it as herein provided, permit such child to be proceeded against in accordance with the laws that may be in force in this state governing the commission of crimes, and in such case the petition, if any, filed under this act shall be dismissed and the child shall be transferred to the court having jurisdiction of the offense."

When appellant was arrested, he was taken before the county judge who made an investigation, or inquiry, concerning the offense, and surrendered jurisdiction of the case to the circuit court. It appears to be the contention of counsel for appellant that a hearing should have been had as is provided by the provisions of the juvenile laws relating to delinquent children. If a petition has been filed, the county judge may dismiss the petition under the juvenile laws and...