Harless v. State
| Decision Date | 10 December 1949 |
| Citation | 225 S.W.2d 258,189 Tenn. 419,25 Beeler 419 |
| Parties | HARLESS v. STATE. 25 Beeler 419, 189 Tenn. 419, 225 S.W.2d 258 |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Stacy J. Grayson, Bristol, for plaintiff in error.
J. Malcolm Shull, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
This is an appeal from convictions of driving while drunk and reckless driving with punishment fixed by the jury, on request under applicable statutory enactment, to a jail sentence of 30 days and a $50 fine for each offense.
The assignments aver that, (1 and 2) the evidence preponderates against the verdict; (3) that the trial court erred in overruling a motion for a directed verdict, and that (4) error was committed in admitting hearsay evidence.
The evidence, in narrative form, shows that a highway patrolman arrived at the scene of an automobile wreck, pursuant to a radio report, about thirty minutes after the wreck. He found two cars slightly damaged on the plaintiff in error's side of the road. The plaintiff in error was present and admitted driving the car, and according to the office he was under the influence of an intoxicant. The officer also says another person was at the scene of the wreck, while the officer was there, and said the plaintiff in error was drunk, and that the plaintiff in error made no response. Another witness said the plaintiff in error admitted driving the car, and that he was unsteady on his feet. No objection was offered to any testimony in so far as this record shows.
No objection being interposed to the testimony of the officer as to what a bystander said it may properly be considered and given its natural probative effect as if it were in law admissible. Barlow v. Verrill, 88 N.H. 25, 183 A. 857, 104 A.L.R. 1130. Long ago this Court observed in Baxter v. State, 83 Tenn. 657, that parties 'May admit illegal evidence if they don't choose to object, if they do not want to admit it, they should object as soon as it is offered'.
The plaintiff in error asserts that there is no evidence of his guilt except his admissions and that, therefore, he cannot be convicted. He relies on Ashby v. State, 124 Tenn. 684, 139 S.W. 872, 875, in support of this assertion. In that case this Court said:
'The rule upon this subject, as announced by the later authorities, and the great weight of authority, is that, while the corpus delicti cannot be established by confessions alone, yet the confessions may be taken in connection with other evidence, direct or circumstantial, corroborating them, and, if from all of the evidence so considered together the corpus delicti and the guilt of the person with reference thereto is established beyond a reasonable doubt, it is the duty of the jury to convict. * * *
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