Jackson v. State

• Court: Alabama Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: MERRITT, J.
• Citation: Jackson v. State, 18 Ala.App. 627, 93 So. 258 (Ala. App. 1922)
• Decision Date: 30 June 1922
• Docket Number: 8 Div. 952.
• Parties: JACKSON v. STATE.

93 So. 258

18 Ala.App. 627

JACKSON v. STATE.

8 Div. 952.

Court of Appeals of Alabama

June 30, 1922

Appeal from Circuit Court, Morgan County; Robert C. Brickell, Judge.

West Jackson was convicted of manslaughter in the second decree and he appeals. Reversed and remanded.

S. A Lynne and Wert & Hutson, all of Decatur, for appellant.

Harwell G. Davis, Atty. Gen., for the State

MERRITT J.

The defendant was convicted of manslaughter in the second decree and he appeals.

There is no evidence in the record that the deceased came to his death from other means than that of a stab wound inflicted upon him by the defendant, and written charges 2, 3, 4, 7 11, 12, 14, and 15, which deal with deceased's death from other causes, were properly refused, as being abstract.

The court was in error in giving the written charge for the state, set out in the record. This is a good charge, so far as it deals with the question of self-defense, but is erroneous, in that it calls for a conviction of the defendant if he should fail in his plea of self-defense. Before the jury would be warranted in convicting the defendant, they must believe him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt from all of the evidence in the case. McEwen v. State, 152 Ala. 38, 44 So. 619; Gilmore's Case, 126 Ala. 21, 28 So. 595.

The testimony of Dr. Petty, who qualified as an expert, to which objections were made, was relevant, as tending to show that the cut which he found on the deceased and treated was the cause of death, and the defendant's several objections were properly overruled. Simon v. State, 108 Ala. 27, 18 So. 731; Smith v. State, 165 Ala. 57, 51 So. 610; Pearce v. State, 14 Ala. App. 121, 72 So. 213.

There was no error in refusing to permit the defendant to prove that the witness Robertson knew ...