Martin v. State, 29421

Citation236 Ind. 504,141 N.E.2d 455
Decision Date10 April 1957
Docket NumberNo. 29421,29421
PartiesOzell MARTIN, Appellant, v. STATE of Indiana, Appellee.
CourtSupreme Court of Indiana

Milo C. Murphy, Gary, for appellant.

Edwin K. Steers, Atty. Gen., Owen S. Boling, Robert M. O'Mahoney, Deputies Atty. Gen., for appellee.

EMMERT, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment convicting the appellant of murder in the second degree and sentencing him to imprisonment in the Indiana State Prison for life. The error assigned is the overruling of appellant's motion for new trial.

Appellant's motion for new trial challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the verdict. For the most part, the essential facts are not in dispute, but when we examine the evidence on appeal after a conviction to see if it sustains the verdict, we only consider the evidence most favorable to the State, including all reasonable and logical inferences that may be drawn therefrom. Kallas v. State, 1949, 227 Ind. 103, 83 N.E.2d 769; Badgley v. State, 1949, 226 Ind. 665, 82 N.E.2d 841; Keith v. State, 1901, 157 Ind. 376, 61 N.E. 716.

At about 11:45 P.M., Central Standard Time, on July 17, 1955, appellant was playing cards in a club at 2500 Adams Street, Gary, Indiana. Eloma Taylor, a waitress in the club, had been his girl friend for several months. There was a quarrel between the appellant and Miss Taylor. He struck her and there was a fight during which her blouse was torn and her clothes disarrayed. Shortly before the fight appellant, who needed more money to continue playing cards, had sent his wife home to get some. After the fight he left and went to his home which was less than a block away. There he picked up a loaded pistol, put it in his pocket and returned to the club.

As he approached the entrance to the club Eloma Taylor was leaving in order to change her clothes. There was another argument and another fight, which was observed by two witnesses. During the course of the fight there was one shot and Eloma Taylor fell, saying, 'Oh you shot me.' The medical examiner testified that the cause of death was hemorrhaging due to a gunshot wound. The bullet entered the body in the lower left abdominal wall and traveled slightly downward and across to the right side of the body.

According to appellant's testimony at trial, he took the gun from his home because he had run out of money, and he decided to pawn it and 'get back in the game.' The butt end of the gun was sticking out of his right-hand pocket, and, when he came close to Eloma and asked to inspect a bruise which she had received on the head during the previous fight, she seized the gun with her left hand and pointed it at him. He immediately grabbed her arm and twisted, and the gun went off.

As against this defense that the shooting was not his act the jury could have inferred, as noted above, that the gun was loaded when the accused took it from his house, thus throwing substantial doubt on his explanation of his reason for taking it. Also, as noted, after the shot Eloma accused him of shooting her. In a statement made to police officers on the night of the incident, the appellant said, '* * * we had a fight on the sidewalk and I shot her.' It should be noted in this regard that these words came in response to the question as to when he had last seen Eloma Taylor, and that the same written statement contained an assertion that 'She grabbed the gun from me and I tried to get to take gun away from her, and the gun went off.' However, the jury was not bound to accept as true his self-serving statements contained in the confession. Kallas v. State, 1949, 227 Ind. 103, 83 N.E.2d 769, supra.

No witness who observed the second fight saw the gun at any time and it was never recovered or put in evidence. However, the appellant both at trial and in his confession admitted that the gun which fired the shot was his. The medical examiner found no power burns on the hands, clothes or body of the deceased. A photograph of the body introduced in evidence shows the bullet wound well over on the left side. Although there is no evidence whether the decedent was right or left handed, she was not a large woman, nor were her arms large and muscular. The jury was amply justified in finding that appellant's testimony that decedent shot herself with a twelve inch pistol held in...

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7 cases
  • Hill v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • October 9, 1969
    ...of second degree murder. Brown v. State, supra. Maxey v. State (1969), Ind., 244 N.E.2d 650. Warren v. State, supra. Martin v. State (1957), 236 Ind. 504, 141 N.E.2d 455. Murphy v. State (1869), 31 Ind. For all the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed. Judgm......
  • Miller v. State, 30100
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • April 11, 1962
    ...511, 514. This rule has been consistently followed by this court and the current version is succinctly stated in Martin v. State (1957), 236 Ind. 504, 507, 141 N.E.2d 455, 457, as 'Malice may be inferred from the intentional use of a deadly weapon in such a manner as likely to cause death.'......
  • Shutt v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • October 21, 1977
    ...of a deadly weapon in such a manner as is likely to cause death. Dobbs v. State (1957), 237 Ind. 119, 143 N.E.2d 99; Martin v. State (1957), 236 Ind. 504, 141 N.E.2d 455. However, such inference may be rebutted. Dickinson v. State (1944), 222 Ind. 551, 55 N.E.2d 325; Landreth v. State (1930......
  • Schmidt v. State
    • United States
    • Indiana Supreme Court
    • December 29, 1970
    ...they are believed at all they must be believed in their entirety. With this we cannot agree. This Court in the case of Martin v. State (1956), 236 Ind. 504, 141 N.E.2d 455, had occasion to pass on this specific question. In that case the appellant had been convicted of shooting another pers......
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