McClendon v. State
| Decision Date | 03 April 1939 |
| Docket Number | 4121 |
| Citation | 126 S.W.2d 928,197 Ark. 1135 |
| Parties | MCCLENDON v. STATE |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Bradley Circuit Court; D. L. Purkins, Judge; reversed.
Judgment reversed and cause remanded.
C C. Hollensworth, Clinton Campbell, J. Mack Tarpley and Aubert Martin, for appellant.
Jack Holt, Attorney General and Jno. P. Streepey, Asst. Atty. General, for appellee.
On the 25th day of May, 1938, the prosecuting attorney of the 10th judicial district of Arkansas filed information in Bradley county charging appellant with murder in the first degree committed by striking and cutting Richard Reed, with an ax on November 3, 1937, from which wounds the said Richard Reed died on March 14, 1938.
On November 7, 1938, appellant was tried in said county and convicted of murder in the first degree and on the 8th day of May was adjudged to serve for life in the penitentiary as punishment for the crime, from which an appeal has been duly prosecuted to this court.
The testimony introduced on the trial of the cause is as follows Judge Williams, Judge being his given name, testified, in substance, that he was working for Mr. Reed and went with him to appellant's house to collect $ 10; that the first visit was about 10:30 a. m. at which time appellant told Mr. Reed to come back about noon and he would pay Reed the debt; that they went back at about 11:30 a. m. and were invited into the house by Exa, appellant's wife, and after entering the kitchen saw appellant behind the stove cooking; that Exa said her husband was not going to pay the debt until they sold their furniture, whereupon, Reed, addressing appellant, said "Come go with me, Jim," (Referring to appellant) meaning that he wanted him to go with him to Bradley's store where there was something due him for work he had done; that appellant said, "I will be ready in a few minutes"; that Exa told us to get out of the house, that Jim was not going and then threw a pan of corn bread which hit Mr. Reed; that he tried to ward off the bread and then grabbed her and tried to keep her from hitting Mr. Reed and while he had hold of her appellant came from behind the stove and hit at him with a pole-ax and that he threw up his arm and caught part of the lick on top of his head; that Mr. Reed told them not to fight and said, "I will give you the debt," at which time appellant ran around witness and hit Mr. Reed on the side of the head with the ax, and ran out of the house; that witness also ran out of the house and had a neighbor call the sheriff.
Witness admitted on cross-examination that he had sworn on a trial in February that neither he nor Reed had a pistol when they went to appellant's home which testimony was admitted to have been false as Mr. Reed had a pistol which he had gotten from a friend that morning before they went to appellant's house, but after the admission said that neither he nor Mr. Reed drew the pistol or attempted to use it during the fight.
Mrs. Richard Reed (widow of the deceased) testified that she saw her husband at the hospital on November 3, 1937, a short time after he had been taken over there and that he had a wound on the side of his head from the effects of which he died on the 14th day of March, 1938.
C. W. Hickman, sheriff of the county and his deputy, J. J. Johnson, who arrested appellant and his wife, testified that appellant admitted to them he hit Mr. Reed on the head with the ax which he got off the porch just outside the kitchen door, and when asked why he did not keep going instead of getting the ax he replied that he was mad.
J. H. Crawford, the town marshal, testified that he went with Williams to appellant's home, in search of appellant and his wife, and found an ax either on the outside or in the house; that he took the ax and kept it in his locker until the trial at which time he brought it to court; that he found a broken pot containing beans on the table in the kitchen, a skillet and lots of dough on the. floor and a broken stick like a broom handle in the kitchen, and that he did not remember whether Williams told him that he snapped a pistol at appellant.
The physicians who operated upon and treated Mr. Reed testified that in their opinion Mr. Reed died on March 14, 1938, as a result from the wound he received on November 3, and that he did not die from any independent cause.
Exa McClendon, appellant's wife, who was sixteen years of age at the time of the difficulty and seventeen years of age at the time she gave her testimony, testified, in substance, that Mr. Reed and Williams came to their home three times during the morning the difficulty occurred and that on the first and second visits Mr. Reed talked to her husband about collecting a debt he owed Mr. Reed and that there was no dispute or any differences between them at that time; that on the third visit Williams went into the kitchen and told her husband the sheriff had sent him out to bring him down town; that Williams had a pistol in his pocket and while her husband was taking some bread out of the stove Mr. Reed came in the door and said, "Get him, Judge," and that Williams drew the pistol on her husband; that she threw a pan of bread she had in her hand down on the floor and grabbed the barrel of the pistol and held it until her brother, Jeems, who came in from his work about that time, got near them; that Williams snapped the pistol at her husband but it failed to fire; that Williams kept telling her to get back or he would shoot; that Jeems took the pistol away from Williams and when she tried to pass out of the kitchen through the door Mr. Reed hit her with a stick and that she ran out into the yard; that she did not see her husband get the ax, but it was just outside the kitchen door on the porch where they kept their wood.
Jeems McClendon, a brother of appellant, testified, in substance that when he came in from his work about 11:30 o'clock Williams, Exa and appellant were scuffling...
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Stewart v. State
...who operates on and attends the victim may give an opinion as to the cause of death without reference to an autopsy. McClendon v. State, 197 Ark. 1135, 126 S.W.2d 928 (1939). From what we have previously indicated, suffice it to say that the court did not err in refusing appellants' request......
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McGaha v. State
... ... It is ... argued that, since no weapon was used and the parties had ... previously been on good terms, there is insufficient evidence ... to sustain a conviction for any offense greater than ... involuntary manslaughter. Appellant relies on the cases of ... McClendon v. State, 197 Ark. 1135, 126 ... S.W.2d 928, and Bone v. State, 200 Ark ... 592, 140 S.W.2d 140, where convictions for the crime of ... murder were reduced to seven years imprisonment for voluntary ... manslaughter. It is true that the defendant in each of the ... cases cited used a weapon, ... ...
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Jenkins v. State, 4754
...cases relied on, there is no attempt to set out any particular time within which the intent to kill must be formed. In McClendon v. State, 197 Ark. 1135, 126 S.W.2d 928, relied on by appellant, the killing was the result of a sudden fight between the defendant and deceased and this court ob......
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Bone v. State, 4164.
...the insufficiency of the evidence to support a charge of second degree murder, this court in the recent case of McClendon v. State, 197 Ark. 1135, 1140, 126 S.W.2d 928, 930, "There is no evidence in the record tending to show any enmity between appellant and deceased prior to the difficulty......