Melton v. State
| Decision Date | 09 December 1929 |
| Docket Number | 28181 |
| Citation | 124 So. 802,155 Miss. 659 |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
| Parties | MELTON v. STATE |
HOMICIDE. In murder prosecution, voluntary intoxication of accused is no defense.
In prosecution for murder, voluntary intoxication of accused is no defense.
APPEAL from circuit court of Tallahatchie county, Second district HON. GREEK L. RICE, Judge.
Bill Melton was convicted of manslaughter and he appeals. Affirmed.
Affirmed.
W. I. Stone, of Coffeeville, for appellant.
Complete intoxication is an extenuation or excuse for crime. The crime of manslaughter is bottomed in a specific intent and the logical conclusion cannot be avoided where a man is in such beastly condition that he is totally incapable of forming the intent, or any intent, and is in a thoroughly irresponsible condition, that he cannot commit the crime of manslaughter.
W. A. Shipman, Assistant Attorney-General, for the state.
Voluntary intoxication is no justification or excuse for homicide or any other criminal act.
Wharton on Homicide (3 Ed.), 805; McLain Criminal Law, secs. 159, 160 and 162; Underhill, Criminal Evidence (2 Ed.), sec. 164; Kelly v. State, 3 S. & M. 518; Reese v. Barbee, 61 Miss. 181; Gordon v. State, 29 So. 529; Butler v. State, 39 So. 1005.
Argued orally by W. I. Stone, for appellant, and by W. A. Shipman, Assistant Attorney-General, for appellee.
Appellant was indicted upon a charge of murder, and was convicted of manslaughter. The commission of the homicide by appellant is admitted by him; that it was unprovoked and was without any sort of excuse or justification is also admitted, except that he says he was in such a state of complete intoxication at the time as to be utterly destitute of reason and wholly incapable, as he contends, of the essential specific intent.
At an early day in this state, in Kelly v. State, 11 Miss. 518, 3 S. & M. 518, it was held that, in a prosecution for homicide, voluntary intoxication of the accused is no defense. This has been reaffirmed in Gordon v. State (Miss.), 29 So. 529, and Butler v. State (Miss.), 39 So. 1005. The rule seems to be practically universal. Wharton on Homicide (3 Ed.), 805; 1 McLain, Crim. Law, sections 159, 162; Underhill, Crim. Ev. (2 Ed.), section 164; 16 C. J., p. 104 et seq.
Appellant contends, however, that the cases heretofore adjudged in this state have all been of partial intoxication, not cases of complete or absolute intoxication. The record shows that, while the deceased was attempting to do a friendly act towards appellant, and without any reason on the part of anybody there present to suspect danger, appellant suddenly announced with an oath that he was going to kill deceased, and immediately shot him. Upon such a record we would be at a loss how or where to draw a line between partial intoxication, and the so-called complete intoxication. The dangerous ground that would be entered upon in the attempt to draw such a line admonishes us against the venture, and compels us to remain within the established doctrine that voluntary intoxication is no defense.
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Long v. State
...is no defense to crime. Archibald Kelley v. State, 3 S. & M. 518; Gordon v. State, 29 So. 529; Butler v. State, 39 So. 1005; Melton v. State, 124 So. 802; People v. Rogers, 72 Am. Dec. 484; Crawford v. State, 57 So. 393; State of New Mexico v. Claude M. Cooley (N. M.), 140 P. 111, 52 L.R.A.......
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Stokes v. State, 41694
...complains of the refusal of the instruction on intoxication. Voluntary intoxication is no defense in a murder case. In Melton v. State, 155 Miss. 659, 124 So. 802, the Court stated we cannot approve the latter paragraph whereby intoxication which rendered the accused incapable of formulatin......
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McDaniel v. State, 50037
...of distinguishing between right and wrong. This was the construction placed on Kelly & Little, supra, by this Court in Melton v. State, 155 Miss. 659, 124 So. 802 (1929). In this case Melton's defense was that he was in such a state of complete intoxication at the time of the homicide he wa......
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Kendall v. State
...to effect death, and that test was submitted to the jury. See also Long v. State, 163 Miss. 535, 141 So. 591 (1932); Malton v. State, 155 Miss. 659, 124 So. 802 (1929). Wixon v. State, 229 Miss. 430, 90 So.2d 859 (1956), involved a conviction of assault and battery with intent to kill and m......