Harris v. State
| Decision Date | 30 June 1899 |
| Parties | HARRIS v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Appeal from Bibb county court; W. L. Pratt, Judge.
Minnie Harris was convicted of assault and battery, and appeals. Reversed.
Rachel Duff, a witness for the state, testified that, within 12 months before the making of the affidavit in this case, she had a difficulty with the defendant in Bibb county; that while she was at a well, getting water, the defendant, with other people, was passing by the well on the opposite side of a fence in the defendant's field; that she spoke to the defendant, and said she did not like the way the defendant had been talking about her; that thereupon she and the defendant got into a quarrel, and, as she (the witness) was getting over the fence to go to where the defendant was, the defendant struck her with a stick, and then got the witness and threw her down, and choked her. Thereupon the solicitor asked witness, "What was your physical condition at that time?" Witness misunderstanding the question, the solicitor asked, "Were you or not pregnant at the time of the difficulty?" To this question defendant objected upon the following grounds: (1) That it was irrelevant immaterial, illegal, and incompetent; (2) that it was not competent, because witness' evidence showed that she (witness) was the aggressor. The court overruled said objection, and the defendant then and there separately and severally excepted. The witness answered that she was in an advanced state of pregnancy at the time of the difficulty. Defendant moved to exclude this answer from the jury upon the same grounds as stated in the objection. The court refused said motion, and allowed said testimony to go to the jury and the defendant then and there duly, separately, and severally excepted. The state introduced, as a witness Emanuel Duff, the husband of Rachel Duff, who testified to substantially the same facts that Rachel Duff testified to. The evidence for the state tended to show that the defendant did not strike Rachel Duff as she was getting over the fence and did not strike or make any assault upon her until after Rachel Duff had struck the defendant with the stick; that the defendant then got hold of Rachel Duff, and threw her down and held her until she was told to get off of her, which she immediately did. The defendant requested the court to give to the jury the following written charges, and separately excepted to the refusal of the court to give each of them as asked: (1) "If the jury believe from the evidence that defendant struck Rachel Duff after Rachel Duff struck her, then she was justified." (2) "If the jury believe from the evidence that the defendant was rightfully on the...
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Brown v. State, 6 Div. 238
... ... inured to the rights of the accused ... We next ... consider the written instructions that were refused to ... appellant ... Charge ... numbered 3 was before the Supreme Court in Amos v. State, 123 ... Ala. 50, 26 So. 524, and in Harris v. State, 123 ... Ala. 69, 26 So. 515. In each of these cases it was held to be ... error to refuse it. See also, Diamond v. State, 15 ... Ala.App. 33, 72 So. 558 ... Refused Charge 5 was approved in Brown v. State, 118 ... Ala. 111, 23 So. 81; Wilson v. State, 243 Ala ... ...
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