Long v. State
Decision Date | 18 April 1966 |
Docket Number | No. 5155,5155 |
Citation | 240 Ark. 687,401 S.W.2d 578 |
Parties | Raymond Irving LONG, Appellant, v. STATE of Arkansas, Appellee. |
Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Felver A. Rowell, Jr., Morrilton, for appellant.
Bruce Bennett, Atty. Gen., by Russell J. Wools, Asst. Atty. Gen., Little Rock, for appellee.
Upon a change of venue the appellant was tried and convicted upon the charge of second degree murder. The jury assessed his punishment at 12 years in the State Penitentiary and from the judgment upon that verdict comes this appeal.
For reversal appellant first contends the evidence is insufficient to sustain the verdict. The appellant was arrested and placed in jail upon a charge of public drunkenness. He was placed in a jail cell with two others, Hervey Henley and Wesley Greenlaw, who were also in jail for public drunkenness. A short time after appellant was placed in this cell the officers investigated a disturbance there. They found Henley unconscious on the jail floor lying in a pool of blood. The appellant was standing nearby 'staggery drunk'. His clothing and boots were covered with blood and he complained about his right hand which later became swollen. The other inmate, Greenlaw, who was perched in an upper bunk, heard appellant say: 'Get up old man', and then a struggle ensued. He also heard a woman's voice saying: 'Stop beating him or you will kill him.' Henley was taken to a hospital where he died about 24 to 36 hours later from a fractured skull. There was evidence of multiple lacerations and bruises about his head, face, arms, back and chest. Without further detailing the evidence we are of the view that it is amply sufficient to sustain the verdict. Stockton v. State, 239 Ark. 228, 388 S.W.2d 382.
Appellant further contends that it was error to admit as evidence a pair of metal knucks and a loaded pistol found on the person of appellant at the time of his arrest and while being transported to the jail. The appellant is correct in this contention. There is no evidence that the weapons were in any manner relevant and connected with the crime charged in the information. We have recently held that a pistol found in the possession of an accused follow a killing was improperly admitted into evidence. We said: Rush v. State, 238 Ark. 149, 379 S.W.2d 29. See, also, Everett v. State, 231 Ark. 880, 333 S.W.2d 233; 22 A C.J.S. Criminal Law § 611. In the case at bar the weapons were removed from appellant's person before the commission of the alleged offense. There was no contention that the knucks and the loaded pistol were used in the commission of the crime or possessed for that purpose.
Nor can it be said that these weapons were admissible in evidence to show appellant's propensity for being an argumentative and combatant individual. An accused has the right ot have his guilt or innocence resolved upon evidence relevant to the specific charge made in the information. Henson v. State, 239 Ark. 727, 393 S.W.2d 856. There we quoted with aproval: '* * * a criminal defendant is entitled to have his guilt or innocence determined on the specific offense charged and not risk the possibility of conviction for a series of prior specific acts which collectively suggested that his career had been reprehensible.' See, also, Williams v. State, 183 Ark. 870, 39 S.W.2d 295.
To the same effect is the case of People v. Zackowitz, 254 N.Y. 192, 172 N.E. 466 (1930). There ...
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