Holland v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 26 October 1904
• Citation: 82 S.W. 598
• Parties: HOLLAND et al. v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

82 S.W. 598

HOLLAND et al. v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

October 26, 1904

Appeal from Circuit Court, Christian County.

"Not to be officially reported."

George Holland and Dick Carney were convicted of murder, and Carney appeals. Reversed.

N. B Hays and Loraine Mix, for the Commonwealth.

NUNN J.

This appeal is prosecuted by Dick Carney from a judgment sentencing him to death for aiding and abetting in the murder of an unknown white man at or near Pembroke, Ky. on the night of the 14th of November, 1903. The facts and circumstances of the murder are related in the opinions this day rendered on the appeals of George Holland (82 S.W. 596) and Frank Merriweather (Id. 592), who were jointly indicted with him for this murder. For the reasons related in the opinion on the Merriweather appeal, the judgment of conviction against this appellant, Carney, must be reversed. The appellant is not represented by counsel in this court but one of the reasons assigned for a new trial in the lower court was that the court erred in refusing to give to the jury a peremptory instruction in his behalf. The court did not err in this matter, for there were many facts and circumstances proven on the trial which authorized a verdict of guilty, to wit, the proof that appellant was at Moore's saloon, and saw the stranger with the roll of money; his following the stranger away from the saloon; his not being engaged at any employment to earn money; his not having any money just prior to his meeting this stranger, but having it immediately after; when he was arrested a one-dollar bill with blood on it was found on his person; his contradictory statements with reference to this and other matters of more or less importance; his statements, as testified to by B. M. Trabue, that when Will Garrett was confessing to the participation in the murder appellant reached over and said to Garrett twice, "Don't talk," and "Stop talking;" appellant's conversation with a fellow prisoner in the jail, in which he was asked why and how he got into this trouble, and his answer was that he got in with a lot of "muckshaws" (explained by witness to mean a lot of ignorant or inexperienced persons); his remark that the commonwealth had no proof, and there was nothing in it if all would agree on the same story--tell it and stick to it.

But for the errors in allowing confessions under the circumstances stated in the opinion in...