Page v. State, 37333

• Citation: 44 So.2d 459,208 Miss. 347
• Decision Date: 13 February 1950
• Docket Number: No. 37333,37333
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi
• Parties: PAGE v. STATE.

Page 459

44 So.2d 459

208 Miss. 347

PAGE v. STATE.

No. 37333.

Supreme Court of Mississippi, in Banc.

Feb. 13, 1950.

Brown & Brown, Starkville, for appellant.

Greek L. Rice, Attorney General, by Geo. H. Ethridge, Jackson, for appellee.

LEE, Justice.

The appellant, John Davis Page, was convicted of the murder of his wife, Annie Bell Page, the jury fixing his punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for life. From a judgment in accordance with the verdict of the jury, he appeals.

Page lived with his wife several miles from DeKalb. Between three and four o'clock in the afternoon on Christmas Day, 1948, he went to the office of Dr. V. M. Creekmore in the town of DeKalb to get the doctor to attend his wife, explaining that she had fallen on the doorsteps and cut a place on the front part of her head. The doctor smelled a strong odor of whiskey, and was of the opinion that Page had been drinking. The doctor told Page that he had another call to make. Thereupon, Page said his wife was in pretty bad shape, and at his insistence, the doctor decided to go on to her then. Page rode in the doctor's car out to the house.

Upon arrival, the doctor made an examination of the injured woman, which disclosed the following: Annie Bell Page was lying on the bed, in a cold, clammy sweat. One eye was open and the other closed. Her pulse was weak, respiration was bad, and she was getting her breath just once in a while. Blood was all over her face and head. There was a cut across the top of her head, and the woman was in a dying condition. The doctor told Page that his wife was dying, and was in such condition that he could do nothing for her. On being thus informed, Page became somewhat excited, and asked the doctor about whether she should be taken to the hospital. The doctor advised him that, if she were then at the hospital, probably something could be done; but she might die before she could be taken. Page then left to procure someone for this purpose.

The doctor remained at the house thirty or forty minutes, and during this interval, made observations about the house. The window by the bed on which the woman was lying had been covered by a blanket. The bed, the quilts thereon, the floor beneath, and other parts of the room were bloody. There was lots of fresh blood over the floor in the adjoining room and in the kitchen. An effort had been made to wash it up with water. He did not see any blood on the doorsteps, and the wounded woman was not dressed to go anywhere. Page procured a white man, Mr. Marion Warren, to make the trip to the hospital, but when he came in a truck, the doctor explained that such a vehicle would not do at all.

Mr. Warren went to town and informed Sheriff Craig about the matter, and the sheriff went forthwith to the scene. Upon arrival, he saw Page a few steps in front of the south door, and his father, Will Page, was also there. Several others were in the house. The sheriff found the injured woman in the same condition as described by Dr. Creekmore. In addition, he observed that the covering over the window next to the bed was a blanket, with splotches of blood on it. He found blood all over the kitchen--some had been washed up, but the floor was wet, and the water was still under the house. There were splotches of blood on the wall where someone had tried to wash it off. There at the scene, the sheriff asked Page if he knew anything about it, and Page told him that he whipped his wife the night before with a broom. Thereupon the sheriff observed a broom with two pieces broken off the handle, and asked Page if that was the broom used. Page replied that it was; that the reason it was broken was that, in whipping his wife, he struck it against a rafter, which caused the break. The sheriff retained the broom, arrested Page, and took him to jail.

As the woman was not dead when the sheriff left, when he got back to DeKalb later, he sent Dr. J. L. Hazey to see about her. When the doctor saw the woman about eight o'clock that evening, she was dead. He found a large tear, four to five inches in the left frontal area, with a fracture of the skull beneath, and brain substance oozing out. There was a depression, with the skull battered in and open, and with the white bone showing. The undertaker found two soft places and twenty-three bruises, and said the bruises appeared to have been made by an instrument like a poker or limb.

On the morning of Christmas day, Kid Townsend went to Page's house about 9:15. Page was sitting by a heater which had a fire in it, and his wife was lying in the bed with the cover over her. He saw no blanket over the window. Everything was neat, and there was nothing unusual. He saw nothing wrong with Annie Bell Page--she talked some. Joe Townsend and Dick Whitsey came up. Page had some whiskey and wine, and all of them took a drink. He was at the home about thirty minutes. To like effect was the evidence of Joe Townsend, who stayed at Page's house for about an hour. Neither did Adrian Taylor observe anything unusual, or see any covering over the window. When he first arrived at the home, the woman was lying in the bed. But when he went out of the house for a few minutes and came back, Annie Bell Page was behind the heater, and told him that she was kind of sick, but not enough to go to a doctor. Later when he went back after twelve o'clock, Page came to the door, partly opened it, and told his companion, Eugene Cherry, that the friend, whom they were looking for, had gone.

About two o'clock in the afternoon, Page went to the home of Lena Odom, about a quarter of a mile away, and asked Luverta Townsend who was present, to lend him some money. He also made a like request of Otis C. Wilson, his brother-in-law, but without success. Page then went home, where he stayed a few minutes, came back, and called his brother-in-law out, and they left on a truck going toward DeKalb. Page was seen coming back with Dr. Creekmore. Of like effect was the evidence of Luberta Townsend, who said that no mention of any kind was made by Page about his wife.

Otis C. Wilson, Page's brother-in-law, corroborated the statements of Lena Odom and Luverta Townsend. He related that on the first trip, about 2:30 that afternoon, Page told Wilson that he might want Wilson to take him somewhere. After this, Page went home, stayed a few minutes, came back, called Wilson out and asked Wilson to take him to town to get a doctor for his wife; that she drank about a one-fifth of wine, fell out of the door and cut her head. He told no one else about this incident. After they had driven about two and one-half miles, Page appeared to be excited and told Wilson, 'You better kind of drive up, she is pretty serious'. Wilson put Page off at the door of Dr. Creekmore's office.

Buster Powell was at Page's home between three and four o'clock that afternoon. He saw the condition detailed by both Dr. Creekmore and the sheriff. In addition, he heard Page's sister say to him there at the scene, 'John Davis (Page), you have killed your wife, and if I was in your shape, I would take my own gun and shoot myself'. To which accusation, Page said nothing.

Later, while in custody, Page freely and voluntarily admitted to the sheriff: That he whipped his wife because she was running around with Cleo Adams; that a slight cut which he had on the arm was caused by their scuffling over a screw driver; that his wife had hung the bloody blanket up on the window on Friday night, when he had beaten her; that he did not know how blood got on it; that he left his wife at home when he had gone up to Pearl Odom's house that afternoon; that he went back to tell her that he was going to David Stewart's; and when he got to the house, he found her in that condition. He was unable to account for the blood in the other parts of the house, because his wife was in the bedroom. Neither could he say why the blood was in the kitchen unless it was from his wife's dressing a rooster.

Appellant complains of a number of errors, which we will take up in the order assigned. The first of these is that the court erred in refusing his request for a peremptory instruction to find appellant not guilty, because, he says, the evidence was insufficient to warrant a conviction.

While a lengthy statement of the facts has already been given, a few comments thereon are pertinent. According to three witnesses, they were at appellant's home on the morning of the tragedy, from 9:00 until 10:30. While Annie Bell Page was in bed, they saw nothing unusual--there was no disarrangement--no blanket over the window next to the bed--no blood about the room--nothing to indicate a struggle--the woman sat up and talked some. Appellant alone was with her when they left. One of them returned just after twelve o'clock, when appellant came to the door, opened it partly, and said the other boys were gone. Thus appellant was with his wife at that time. About two o'clock, appellant went to a nearby house to borrow some money. Failing in this, he returned to his home. Thus, he was with his wife at that time. In a few minutes, he returned to the neighbor's house, called out his brother-in-law, informed him that his wife had drunk about one-fifth of wine, had fallen out of the door and cut her head, and wanted his brother-in-law to drive him to town for Dr. Creekmore. He told no one else about this, although he was among friends. As they were going to town, appellant seemed to become excited, and urged his brother-in-law to drive up as his wife was in a pretty serious condition. When he asked the doctor to make the visit because his wife had fallen out the doorsteps and cut a little place on the front of her head, and was apprised by the doctor that he had to make another call first, appellant became insistent, and said his wife was in pretty bad shape. The doctor found the terrible situation which has been detailed above.

Between 10:30 that morning and three to four that...