Mansfield v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 11 March 1915 |
| Citation | 174 S.W. 16,163 Ky. 488 |
| Parties | MANSFIELD v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court, Barren County.
Milt Mansfield was convicted of murder, and he appeals. Affirmed.
White & Smith and V. H. Jones, all of Glasgow, for appellant.
Jas Garnett, Atty. Gen., and Chas. H. Morris, Asst. Atty. Gen for the Commonwealth.
The appellant, Mansfield, and one Louie Pace, were jointly indicted, charged with the murder of Bob Thurman who, at the time he was killed, was a police officer of the city of Glasgow. Having demanded separate trials, Mansfield, on his trial, was found guilty under the indictment, and his punishment fixed at life imprisonment.
As no question is or could be made as to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict, it will be unnecessary in this opinion to relate more of it than will be required to illustrate the grounds relied on for reversal.
On the night he was killed, Thurman, as an officer, was called on to suppress some disorderly conduct in a house in the city. In obedience to the summons he went to the place and there found Louie Pace. Mansfield had also been at this place with Pace, but, a little while before Thurman arrived, had left. Thurman arrested Pace, and on their way to the jail, where it was Thurman's intention to have Pace confined, they met Mansfield, or, at any rate, Mansfield made his appearance on the street, and almost immediately some ugly words passed between Mansfield and Thurman. In the altercation that ensued, Thurman was shot and killed, and it is the claim of the commonwealth that he was shot without excuse by either Mansfield or Pace; the one that did the shooting being aided and abetted by the other. Some people near by heard the quarrel and the shot, but there were no immediate eyewitnesses to the killing, except Mansfield, Pace, and Thurman, and Thurman died very shortly after he was shot from the effect of the wound he received.
The theory of the defense was that Thurman, holding the barrel of his pistol in his hand, struck Mansfield, who was standing very near him, on the head with the butt end of it, thereby causing the pistol to be discharged; the bullet taking effect in Thurman's person and killing him.
The evidence shows that Thurman was a cool, courageous, courteous officer, at all times faithful and fearless in the discharge of his duty. He had been especially alert in suppressing the illegal sale of whisky in Glasgow, and by his vigilance in the discharge of his duties in putting down this unlawful traffic, as well as in other respects, had incurred the ill will of the lawless and disorderly element of the city, while his personal traits of character, together with his diligence in suppressing lawlessness of all kinds, caused him to be held in high esteem by the good people of the place, who were greatly shocked by his death and especially the manner of it.
The indictment was found at a special term of the Barren circuit court held early in October, and the case was set down for trial at this term. But, on the motion of the defendants, the case was continued and did not go to trial until November.
When the case was called for trial in October, the defendants made an application for change of venue, which was overruled, and this ruling of the court is the first error assigned for reversal.
On the hearing of this motion, the defendants introduced 7 witnesses, not including the 2 persons who had made the statutory affidavit, and the commonwealth introduced 36. The witnesses on behalf of the commonwealth were representative citizens from different parts of the county of Barren, and they united in expressing the opinion that the defendants could have a fair trial in that county. On the other hand, the witnesses for the defendants expressed the opinion that a fair trial could not be had in Barren county. The weight of this evidence shows that, aside from the fact that the defendants were charged with and were perhaps generally believed to have killed Thurman, there was no cause for any widespread feeling of hostility toward them on the part of the citizens and people of the county. Both of them had lived in the city of Glasgow for many years; Mansfield pursuing his trade as a blacksmith and Pace as a printer, while Thurman had been in Glasgow but a few months, and was not very well known outside of the city. So that there was no reason, except this charge, why the sentiment in the large county of Barren should be so generally hostile to the defendants as that a jury, free from prejudice against them, could not be selected, and this charge did not, as we think, affect the body of the people to such an extent as to prevent a fair trial.
The defendants also introduced on this motion a copy of the Glasgow Republican, a weekly paper published in Glasgow, issued on September 24th, a few days after Thurman's death, and a copy of the Glasgow Times, also a weekly paper published at Glasgow, issued on September 22d. In both of these papers there appeared editorial comments praising Thurman as a man and officer, and denouncing in strong terms the persons who killed him. The articles in these papers, while emphasizing the pressing necessity for a speedy trial and quick punishment, if the accused were found guilty, did not charge them with guilt. Their purpose was to arouse the people to the importance of having a strict enforcement of the law.
These vigorous articles doubtless gave voice at the time to the indignant and alarmed condition of the law-abiding people of Glasgow, concerning this crime, and it was entirely reasonable and proper that these papers should, under the circumstances, have given expression to their views touching the murder that had been committed on the streets of the city in which they were published. But we do not think the publications exercised upon the people of the county so great an influence or created such a sentiment of hostility against the defendants as that they could not obtain a fair trial in the county.
It is the right, as well as the duty, of well-conducted newspapers to condemn lawlessness and disorder, to demand a strict enforcement of the law, and to insist that justice, without unnecessary delay, shall be administered. And we think it is true that, when a grave crime has been committed, there are few newspapers published in the place where it occurred that do not give...
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State v. Jones, 14
...helpful to review briefly a few cases from other jurisdictions which are factually quite similar to instant case. In Mansfield v. Commonwealth, 163 Ky. 488, 174 S.W. 16, the court approved the trial judge's ruling which permitted a witness to testify that a hammerless .38 Smith and Wesson p......
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Mossbarger v. Mossbarger's Adm'x
... ... The principles governing ... the matter are fully discussed in previous opinions, and need ... not be repeated. Mansfield v. Commonwealth, 163 Ky ... 488, 174 S.W. 16; Powell v. Galloway, 229 Ky. 37, 16 ... S.W.2d 489; Allen v ... ...
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State v. Clements.
...the rule is otherwise. These statements of the law find general support in Coats v. State, 101 Ark. 51, 141 S. W. 197; Mansfield v. Commonwealth, 163 Ky. 488, 174 S. W. 16; State v. Robertson, 133 La. 806, 63 So. 363; State v. Oteri, 128 La. 939, 55 So. 582, Ann. Cas. 1912C, 878; State v. G......
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Mossbarger v. Mossbarger's Adm'X
...a new trial. The principles governing the matter are fully discussed in previous opinions, and need not be repeated. Mansfield v. Commonwealth, 163 Ky. 488, 174 S.W. 16; Powell v. Galloway, 229 Ky. 37, 16 S.W. (2d) 489; Allen v. Commonwealth, 175 Ky. 49, 193 S.W. 650; Clore v. Argue, 213 Ky......