Ming v. State
| Decision Date | 23 March 1925 |
| Citation | 103 So. 618,89 Fla. 280 |
| Parties | MING v. STATE. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
En Banc.
Error to Circuit Court, Bay County; D. J. Jones, Judge.
Oscar Ming was convicted of murder in the first degree, and be brings error.
Reversed.
Syllabus by the Court
Evidence held in insufficient to sustain conviction of murder in first degree. Where a verdict is not in accord with the manifest weight of the evidence or with the justice of the case, the judgment will be reversed and a new trial granted.
J. Ed. Stokes, of Panama City, for plaintiff in error.
Rivers Buford, Atty. Gen., and Marvin C. McIntosh, Asst. Atty. Gen for the State.
The plaintiff in error, Oscar Ming, was convicted of murder in the first degree, with recommendation to mercy, for the killing of Frank Ross.
The cutting took place about dusk.
There is uncontradicted testimony by three witnesses, one a white man, that about 5 o'clock that afternoon, Ross cursed and abused the defendant and used threatending language towards him.
One of the witnesses, Mr. Pennington, testified that the deceased was drunk at the time.
Very shortly afterwards Ming and Ross, with a number of other negroes, got in a truck to go to the camp where they were working.
It is undisputed that while they were on the truck, the deceased was cursing and using bad language, and was remonstrated with by one of the older men in the party and also by the defendant. The deceased resented this and said to the defendant:
When the truck stopped, he jumped off and ran around and struck the defendant twice. The defendant then got out of the truck and he and the deceased got into a scuffle but were separated by some of the party.
Shortly aftereards they got into another scuffle, and were again separated.
Up to this point there is no conflict in the testimony in any material point.
Two negro women who claim to have been eyewitnesses to the cutting testified, in effect, that after the scuffles, one of the men on the truck asked the deceased to give him his knife, and he surrendered it to him; that they heard some one ask the defendant to give up his knife and he refused to do so; that the deceased went to pick up his cap, when he was cut by Ming.
Some of the men who went out on the truck testified that shortly after the scuffles that the deceased and the defendant engaged in, the deceased, when asked to give up his knife, said:
He then advanced upon Ming with his knife in his hand, and as he approached, the defendant opened his pen knife; by that time the deceased struck at him with his knife, and the defendant warded off the blow and cut him twice in the neck.
Seven witnesses who were present testified substantially to the same effect as to how the killing occurred. Each one of...
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Tibbs v. State
...to establish the identity of the defendant as the perpetrator of this homicide." 92 Fla. at 874, 110 So. at 528. See also Ming v. State, 89 Fla. 280, 103 So. 618 (1925). The district court also relied on Lowe v. State, 154 Fla. 730, 19 So.2d 106 (1944), where the court granted "a new trial ......
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Lowe v. State
... ... the cause for a new trial. See Stephens v. State, ... 140 Fla. 163, 191 So. 294; Reed v. State, 137 Fla ... 768, 189 So. 21; Skiff v. State, 107 Fla. 90, 144 ... So. 323; Nims v. State, 70 Fla. 530, 70 So. 565; ... Fuller v. State, 92 Fla. 873, 110 So. 528; Ming ... v. State, 89 Fla. 280, 103 So. 618; Platt v ... State, 65 Fla. 253, 61 So. 502; Townsend v ... State, 95 Fla. 139, 116 So. 7; Coker v. State, ... 83 Fla. 672, 93 So. 176; Knowles v. State, 86 Fla ... 270, 97 So. 716; Davis v. State, 76 Fla. 179, 79 So ... The judgment ... ...
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Cordell v. State
... ... Lowe v. State, 154 Fla ... 730, 19 So.2d 106; Stephens v. State, 140 Fla. 163, ... 191 So. 294; Reed v. State, 137 Fla. 768, 189 So ... 21; Skiff v. State, 107 Fla. 90, 144 So. 323; ... Nims v. State, 70 Fla. 530, 70 So. 565; Fuller ... v. State, 92 Fla. 873, 110 So. 528; Ming v ... State, 89 Fla. 280, 103 So. 618; Platt v ... State, 65 Fla. 253, 61 So. 502; Townsend v ... State, 95 Fla. 139, 116 So. 7; Coker v. State, ... 83 Fla. 672, 93 So. 176; Knowles v. State, 86 Fla ... 270, 97 So. 716; Davis v. State, 76 Fla. 179, 79 So ... The order ... and ... ...
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Forehand v. State
... ... the evidence was not legally sufficient to exclude a ... reasonable doubt as to the existence of a premediated design ... on the part of the accused to take the life of Pledger ... Green v. State, 17 Fla. 669; Williams v. State, ... 58 Fla. 138, 50 So. 749; Ming v. State, 89 Fla. 280, ... 103 So. 618; Armstrong v. State, 30 Fla. 170, 11 So ... 618, 17 L.R.A. 484; Fuller v. State, 92 Fla. 873, ... 110 So. 528; Heath v. State, 97 Fla. 330, 120 So ... 846; Troop v. State, 98 Fla. 385, 123 So. 811 ... The ... above cases show that this court ... ...