Pate v. State
| Citation | 94 Ala. 14,10 So. 665 |
| Parties | PATE v. STATE. |
| Decision Date | 08 January 1892 |
| Court | Supreme Court of Alabama |
Appeal from criminal court, Jefferson county; SAMUEL E. GREEN Judge.
Rafe Pate was indicted for the murder of one John Orr, and was convicted of murder in the second degree. On the trial it was proved by the state that Sunday morning, March 15, 1891, the body of John Orr was found on Twenty-Fourth street, in the city of Birmingham, between Ninth and Tenth avenues; that he had a wound in his temple, caused by a pistol or rifle ball which caused his death. William Robinson, a witness for the state, testified that on Saturday night, 14th of March 1891 he was walking along Twenty Fourth street, between Ninth and Tenth avenues, and heard the defendant and John Orr, the deceased, disputing, and heard John Orr say, that he went on up the street, and when about 75 yards away heard a pistol shot from the direction where he left the two men standing; that this was between 9:30 and 10 o'clock at night. The state introduced testimony of an unlawful intimacy between defendant and the wife of John Orr The state introduced testimony of threat made by defendant against deceased in the November preceding the killing in March. The defendant offered to prove that he gave himself up when he heard there was a warrant for him, but this evidence was excluded. The evidence introduced for the defendant tended to prove an alibi. There was also evidence introduced by the defendant to prove his good character. John Lewis, as a witness for defendant, testified that he knew the witness Robinson, and that on March 14th he was with him at Hood's elevator from about 6 o'clock in the afternoon till about 10 o'clock at night, when he closed up the elevator, and they went down the street, and separated about 10:30 or 11 o'clock. The court refused to give the following written charges, requested by defendant: (1) "Gentlemen, I charge you that, no matter how strong the circumstances may be in this case, if, under all the evidence, you believe the defendant might not have committed the crime, then you must find him not guilty." (2) "Gentlemen, I charge you that if the defendant has proven a good character, that you may consider it, and, if it generates a doubt in your mind apart from all the other evidence in his favor, then you must find the defendant not guilty." (3) "Gentlemen, if the testimony of the witness William Robinson is directly contradicted by the witness John Lewis, and you cannot reconcile their testimony, then you may reject either; but you cannot reject the testimony of a witness capriciously, and the burden of proof being upon the state, if all the other evidence is in equipoise, you must find the defendant not guilty." (4) Defendant appeals. Affirmed.
Wm. L. Martin, Atty. Gen., for the State.
The defendant was tried for the unlawful killing of John Orr, and convicted of murder in the second degree.
Evidence of threats made by the defendant against the deceased previous to the killing was admissible against him. The weight to be given such evidence depends more or less on the character of the threats, the length of time intervening, and the attending circumstances. Griffin v. State, 90 Ala. 599, 8 South. Rep. 670; Long v. State, 86 Ala. 43, 5 South. Rep. 443; Barnes v. State, 88 Ala. 204, 7 South. Rep. 38; Evans v. State, 62 Ala. 6.
It was competent to show that unlawful intimate relations existed between the defendant and the wife of the deceased, and this could be shown by the acts of the parties, and, so far as the defendant is concerned, his voluntary statements to that effect were admissible against him. Such relations are evidence of motive. Marler v. State, 67 Ala. 55, 68 Ala. 584; Johnson v. State, 17 Ala. 618; Hall v. State, 40 Ala. 698.
It is permissible for the state to introduce...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Bogris
...v. Brauneis, 84 Conn. 222, 79 A. 70; State v. Reitz, 83 N.C. 634; State v. Jackson, 36 S.C. 487, 31 Am. St. 890, 15 S.E. 559; Pate v. State, 94 Ala. 14, 10 So. 665; State Waterman, 1 Nev. 543; State v. Lee, 1 Boyce (Del.), 18, 74 A. 4; State v. Webb, 6 Idaho 428-435, 55 P. 892.) The unexpla......
-
State v. Ames
...Mo. 555; State v. Pearce, 15 Nev. 188; Walker v. State, 102 Ind. 502; State v. Bloom, 68 Ind. 54, 57; Johnson v. State, 94 Ala. 35; Pate v. State, 94 Ala. 14; Commonwealth v. Wilson, 152 Mass. 12; People Bowman, 81 Cal. 566. OPINION BROWN, J. Defendant was tried and convicted in the distric......
-
Minor v. State
...an acquittal, and should not be considered by the jury in its deliberations. McClain v. State, 182 Ala. 81, 62 So. 241; Pate v. State, 94 Ala. 14, 10 So. 665; Thomas v. State, 106 Ala. 22, 17 So. Charge 12 was properly refused, as the measure of proof required in all criminal cases is a rea......
-
Lee v. State
...in Provo v. State, 55 Ala. 222. But in Johnson v. State, 24 Ala.App. 291, 135 So. 592 (1931) the Court of Appeals, relying on Pate v. State, 94 Ala. 14, 10 So. 665, reversed for giving a charge virtually ipsissima verba to that sub-judice. Johnson, supra, was approved in Johnson v. State, 2......