Holt v. State
| Decision Date | 04 May 1962 |
| Citation | 14 McCanless 188,210 Tenn. 188,357 S.W.2d 57 |
| Parties | , 210 Tenn. 188 Roy E. HOLT v. STATE of Tennessee. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Robert S. Clement, Dickson, Val Sanford, Nashville, for plaintiff in error.
George F. McCanless, Atty. Gen., Thomas E. Fox, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for state.
The plaintiff-in-error, defendant, was found guilty of an assault with intent to commit voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to serve two years in the State Penitentiary. A motion for a new trial was seasonably made and overruled. The defendant has appealed and has assigned as error:--(1) The refusal of the Trial Court to grant a new trial on the ground that the evidence preponderates against the verdict found against the plaintiff-in-error and in favor of his innocence. (2) The Court erred in admitting as evidence certain testimony, detailed in the brief filed by the plaintiff-in-error, all of which it is claimed was prejudicial to his rights.
In order for the Court to pass upon these matters, it is necessary to outline briefly the evidence upon which the defendant was found guilty as aforesaid. The facts are in sharp dispute. However, it does appear without dispute that Forrest Darnell was the driver of a Greyhound bus which left Nashville, Tennessee at about 10:15 o'clock P.M. on February 3rd, 1961 bound for Dickson, Tennessee and other points west. All seats on the bus were taken, and some thirteen passengers were riding in the aisle. The bus arrived in Dickson, Tennessee, at about 11:30 o'clock P.M. and proceeded to the bus station located in that city.
Roy Holt, the defendant, a resident of Dickson, was a passenger on this bus. He was at the time employed by the Pearl Machinery Company in Nashville, and had been working on that day. Ordinarily, he rode home with a friend but on this particular day the man with whom he rode did not come by to pick him up at the appointed time and place.
Three other young negroes, Douglas Hughes, Willie Lee Hogan and James Hall, who worked in Nashville and lived in Dickson, were also passengers on this bus.
The State's witnesses all agreed there was some difficulty between certain of these young negroes and the bus driver, and that a fight, or a series of fights, resulted therefrom. The bus driver, Forrest Darnell, was cut in three separate places, across the abdomen, under the right arm, and in the back above the left hip.
Counsel for plaintiff-in-error observed in the brief filed that 'as to the nature of the difficulty, the course of the ensuing fights and the manner of the infliction of these wounds, there are as many versions as there are witnesses for the prosecution, and there is little agreement between any two of them'.
The bus driver testified that the defendant was a passenger on his bus and that his destination was Dickson, Tennessee. When he arrived in Dickson he stepped off of the bus and was expecting eleven of his passengers to leave the bus at this point. When only two or three had left the bus Forrest Darnell heard an argument going on inside the bus between some colored and white passengers, including the defendant, Roy E. Holt. The driver re-entered the bus and found the passenger Hogan sitting on a suitcase in the aisle and when he said to Hogan 'come on off the bus and let these passengers off' Hogan began to curse. However, he did follow the instructions of the driver, in that he got off of the bus but kept cursing. The defendant was still on the bus at this time. According to Darnell, Hogan struck at him and knocked his glasses off or almost knocked them off, at which time Darnell went to a telephone 150 or possibly 200 feet away from the scene and called the police. Upon his return he found that the four colored boys in question, including the defendant, had walked away from the side of the bus and one of them asked if he, Darnell, had called the police. Upon stating in the affirmative, one of the boys by the name of Hughes cursed the bus driver in the presence of all the others, including the defendant, and then this same man came forward to the bus driver and struck him. This man was joined by another by the name of Hogan at which time the bus driver ran and jumped in the bus and called for help. The defendant and his companions were standing near the bus at the time cursing and when certain of the people on the bus came to the aid of the driver a general fight ensued and lasted for about ten minutes, and during a part or all of this time the defendant was within ten or twelve feet of Darnell.
The driver says he picked up a board about five inches long and three inches wide and struck Hughes in the head with it and knocked him to his knees and at about this time
The bus driver further testified 'when my belt fell off of me, I looked down at my stomach, and my shirt was cut all the way across and I was bleeding'. The belt and the shirt were both exhibited to the jury.
The witness testified that he was cut from 'the left hip to his right hip across his stomach (abdomen) then I was cut from under my arm, then I had a stab in my back just above my left kidney'.
Darnell was then asked if he knew who made this cut on him or this stab and his reply was 'yes sir I certainly do', and then he testified that the defendant, Holt, was the guilty party. He did not know, however, what instrument Holt had used to cut him. Thereafter the bus driver was taken to the hospital where he was examined and treated and where he remained for a period of eight days.
The driver said that he could identify the defendant Holt because of his resum-blance to a passenger with whom he had had some prior trouble. He had never had any trouble at all with the defendant before this occurrence.
The witness DeHosse testified that he was a passenger on the bus on the night of this occurrence, that he was stationed at Millington U. S. Naval Base near Memphis, Tennessee, and was on the way to his station when this difficulty occurred. He said that these four colored boys got off of the bus and that they were cursing and that the defendant, Holt, was one of them.
This witness said that he engaged in this free-for-all fight and that Holt was engaged in it also. He testified that Holt fell on Mr. Darnell and that another witness kicked Holt
This witness said: .
On cross-examination the witness DeHosse testified that 'this boy (Holt) come at him and tackled him and knocked him to the ground'. (Meaning Darnell). This same witness said again on cross-examination that defendant Holt cut the driver but that all of them, meaning the four colored boys, were mixed up in it.
Another witness by the name of Robert Lilly, a member of the armed services, testified that he, too, was on the bus and he corroborates the testimony of Darnell with reference to one or more of the colored boys interfering with the passengers alighting from the bus. That Darnell after returning from calling the police stepped into the bus and asked for help. He went to the aid of Darnell and as he got off of the bus one of the colored boys hit him. He also said 'the defendant--he went down on top of the bus driver and the Marine was in unform--he just wanted to pull him off of the bus driver and that is when the bus driver told me he had been cut'.
He testified that there was no one else around the bus driver when he got up except the defendant, Holt, and that the driver was cut.
This witness on cross-examination said that when he saw the bus driver go down he was standing within ten feet of him and near the edge of the bus on the left rear.
The witness Buchanan said that he observed the fighting and that all of the colored boys were on the bus driver but that he could not identify the one that cut the driver.
The defendant, Roy Holt, testifying in his own behalf, denied categorically and in detail all charges made against him. He denied that he saw any drinking on the bus. He denied there was any difficulty on the bus after it had stopped in Dickson. He denied any knowledge of any fighting between the other colored boys and Darnell and the other witnesses who testified in the case and, as a matter of fact, he was asked: 'About how long did you stay around the bus station after you got off?' A. 'No more than to get off the bus and walk down the street.'
Douglas Hughes testified that he was on the bus and that no difficulty occurred that he knew anything about even off the bus until he heard a noise behind him as he walked up the street. Holt,...
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