Martin v. Commonwealth

• Decision Date: 17 January 1908
• Citation: 106 S.W. 863
• Parties: MARTIN v. COMMONWEALTH.
• Court: Kentucky Court of Appeals

106 S.W. 863

MARTIN v. COMMONWEALTH.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

January 17, 1908

Appeal from Circuit Court, Scott County.

"Not to be officially reported."

John Martin was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, and appeals. Affirmed.

Bradley & Bradley, for appellant.

James Breathitt, Atty. Gen., Tom B. McGregor, and Chas. H. Morris for the Commonwealth.

CARROLL J.

Under an indictment charging him with the murder of Lige Beatty appellant was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and his punishment fixed at imprisonment in the state penitentiary for 12 years. The only ground upon which a reversal is sought is, as stated by his counsel, "that there is not a scintilla of evidence to support the finding of the jury, and that Martin testified to facts which showed a plain case of self-defense; and there was not a single word on the part of any one contradicting his statement as to how the deceased met his death." In criminal cases this court is not authorized to reverse the judgment of the lower court upon the ground that the verdict is flagrantly against the evidence or not supported by sufficient evidence to sustain it, being restricted to the single inquiry whether there was any evidence before the jury conducing to show the guilt of the accused. Vowells v. Commonwealth, 83 Ky. 193; Patterson v. Commonwealth, 86 Ky. 313, 5 S.W. 387; Green v. Commonwealth, 83 S.W. 638, 26 Ky. Law Rep 1221. Keeping in view the limitation upon our right to reverse for this ground, we will examine the testimony with some care, for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not there was evidence conducing to show that appellant was guilty.

Appellant and the deceased were colored boys between 17 and 20 years of age; the deceased being a little larger and heavier than appellant. They were well acquainted, and had been on friendly terms. The shooting that resulted in the death of Beatty occurred at a negro festival, at which they had the usual accompaniments of whisky and pistols, given at the house of Zach Wilson in Boston, a suburb of Georgetown. The appellant went to the festival about 11 o'clock at night and had been there about an hour when Beatty was killed. Maj Letcher, a witness for the commonwealth, testified that he was at the festival, and during the night appellant got into an argument with him and wanted to wrestle with him, when Beatty came up and remarked to Martin that he (Martin) was not going to do anything to that boy (meaning Letcher), when appellant cursed Beatty, and then they got into an argument, and presently appellant went into the house, and remained there about five minutes and came out, when the quarrel was renewed and appellant again cursed Beatty, who struck him. They clinched, and fell on the side of the road, and while they were down appellant shot Beatty. He said that Beatty had not done anything to appellant before he went into the house, nor after appellant came out until he called Beatty a bad name, when Beatty struck him. He did not know with what; that they fell rather side by side, and were engaged in a scuffle about two minutes when the shot was fired. Will Young, for the commonwealth, said he was in the house when the shot was fired, but immediately ran to the place where Beatty and appellant were, and pulled appellant off of the top of Beatty. Zach Wilson testified that appellant came into his house and went to his (appellant's) uncle, who was drunk, and started to go...