Murphy v. State, 40667

• Decision Date: 06 January 1958
• Docket Number: No. 40667,40667
• Citation: 99 So.2d 595,232 Miss. 424
• Parties: Clouis F. MURPHY v. STATE of Mississippi.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 595

99 So.2d 595

232 Miss. 424

Clouis F. MURPHY v. STATE of Mississippi.

No. 40667.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Jan. 6, 1958.

O. L. McLeod, Pascagoula, Bidwell Adam, Gulfport, Jackson & Ross, Jackson, for appellant.

Joe T. Patterson, Atty. Gen. by J. R. Griffin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

HOLMES, Justice.

The appellant was indicted in the Circuit Court of Jackson County for the murder of his wife. His trial resulted in a jury verdict finding him guilty as charged but disagreeing as to his punishment, and he was accordingly sentenced to life imprisonment in the State penitentiary.

The homicide occurred at the home of the appellant and the deceased on Saturday night at about eleven o'clock on March 2, 1957. There was no one present in the home at the time other than the appellant and his wife. The appellant and the deceased lived in one side of a duplex apartment in the City of Pascagoula, Mississippi. Their apartment was of the shotgun type construction, that is to say, that the rooms from front to rear extended back one behind the other. One entering the apartment through the back door entered a small hallway about six feet in length and then passed into an empty or unfurnished room, and from there into the kitchen, and from there into a bedroom, and from there into another bedroom, and from there out on the front porch. On the trial, the appellant admitted killing the deceased, but sought to establish by his proof that he shot her in self defense.

The State's proof showed substantially the following: The deceased spent the early afternoon of the day of the killing visiting on the porch of a neighbor. The appellant returned to his home about four o'clock P.M. and entered his apartment. He was shortly joined by his wife who remained for a short time and then left to go to town. Later in the evening, the appellant joined his wife and they went together to the Red Rooster Cafe which was located about two blocks from their home. While there the appellant was drinking and engaged in an argument with a man called Booker T. The appellant had a knife in his hand which was similar to a knife later found in the little hallway of the apartment near the body of the deceased. The deceased was not drinking and remonstrated with the appellant about arguing with Booker T., and told him that if the police were called and arrested him and put him in jail she was not going to get him out. The appellant, with the knife in his hand, told the deceased to stay out of his 'G----- D----- business' and threatened to kill her. The appellant and Booker T. then went out of the Cafe and later the deceased left the Cafe. The incident in the Cafe occurred about 10:30 o'clock P.M. At about 11 o'clock P.M., neighbors heard the deceased outside of her apartment calling to the appellant to let her in the apartment. She called several times, and finally the appellant unlatched the back screen door and let her in, and in a second or a second and a half after she entered through the back door of the apartment, neighbors heard a shot in the apartment. Before the shot, the lights were on in the apartment but were turned out immediately after the shot. The neighbors heard no argument, disturbance or struggle immediately before or after the shot. None of the neighbors saw the appellant after the shot. One of the neighbors went to the window and called the deceased, and when there was no response she called the police. The police arrived in about ten minutes. When the police arrived, the apartment was dark. They entered the apartment and found the body of the deceased lying face down in the empty room. Her feet were just inside the doorway between the empty room and the hallway. There was a puddle of blood in the hallway just beyond her feet. Her shoes were nearby in the hallway, as was the knife which was similar in appearance to that which the appellant was seen to exhibit in the Red Rooster Cafe about thirty minutes or so earlier. The police examined the body and found that the deceased was dead and was killed by a shotgun blast fired into her chest and at such close range as to cause powder burns. A dish rag was stuck in her dress near the wound apparently for the purpose of staying the flow of blood. Blood smears found on the floor indicated that the body had been dragged about two feet inside the empty room. The shotgun was found standing in the corner of the second bedroom by the side of the door leading into the kitchen. An examination of the gun showed that it had been recently fired and that the empty shell was still in the gun.

No one entered the apartment between the time the shot was heard and the arrival of the police. The police made a search for the appellant but were unable to find him. The next morning, the appellant called the police from the home of his uncle, about six blocks from the appellant's apartment, and told them that he wanted to give himself up. The police came out and got him and took him to the police station. One of the officers asked him how the thing happened and he said that he only got the gun for the purpose of scaring her and he did not intend to kill her. He later gave a statement to the officers in which he said that he was in the kitchen when his wife entered the apartment, and that she began to advance on him with a knife and threatened to kill him, and he went into the bedroom and got the gun and fired to stop her. He said in his statement that his wife was in the empty room and he was in the kitchen when he shot.

The appellant was the only witness in his own behalf. He testified that when he and his wife returned to the apartment after leaving the Red Rooster Cafe, he asked her to fix something to eat for him and sh...