People v. Warren

• Decision Date: 18 June 1913
• Citation: 259 Ill. 213,102 N.E. 201
• Parties: PEOPLE v. WARREN.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

259 Ill. 213

102 N.E. 201

PEOPLE

v.WARREN.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 18, 1913.

Error to Circuit Court, Marion County; Albert M. Rose, Judge.

Harry Warren was convicted of manslaughter, and he brings error. Reversed and remanded.J. J. Bundy, of Centralia, and Kagy & Vandervort, of Salem, for plaintiff in error.

P. J. Lucey, Atty. Gen., Samuel N. Finn, State's Atty., of Salem, and George P. Ramsey, of Mt. Carmel (Charles Holt, of Salem, of counsel), for the People.

DUNN, J.

The plaintiff in error was indicted for murder and convicted of manslaughter. He insists that the verdict was not sustained by the evidence, and that the court erred in admitting and rejecting evidence and in giving and refusing instructions. The evidence is conflicting, and we shall not discuss its weight, since the judgment must be reversed for errors occurring on the trial.

The deceased, Arthur Greenlee, was shot in the yards of the Illinois Central Railroad Company at Centralia on the morning of August 23, 1912, soon after midnight, and died three days later. The plaintiff in error was employed by the railroad company as a watchman in the yards. He met the deceased, in company with two or three other young men, walking north along the tracks through the yards and accosted them. His testimony was that he asked them where they were going and turned on them a flashlight which he carried; that two of them drew revolvers and one started off the tracks to the east and the others to the west; that the man going east shot at him twice, and he thereupon drew his revolver and fired five shots in the direction of the flash of the last shot fired at him, without seeing the man. At his last shot shots were fired at him from the west side of the track, the bullets singing past close to him. The flash at which he had fired was in range of these bullets. The defendant then started to run, but stumbled in a ditch and fell down. James Greenlee, the deceased's brother, and James Bain, a young man who was with them, testified that the three were walking north on the railroad track when they met the plaintiff in error, who spoke to the deceased and asked what he had on him. The deceased started to run, and the plaintiff in error drew a flashlight and a revolver, and began shooting at the deceased. The other two men ran north, and after the shooting was over found the deceased, who had received a gunshot wound in the back. The plaintiff in error remained on duty in the railroad yards until 6 o'clock, when he went home and to bed until noon, and upon getting up first learned from the chief of police that a man had been shot.

[1] On the trial James Greenlee testified that ‘he started and pulled his gun, Mr. Warren did, or this fellow; I suppose it was Mr. Warren.’ This testimony was stricken out, but the witness was permitted, over objection, to state that he afterward learned that the man who started to draw a gun was Harry Warren. This was improper, but it did no harm, for there was no controversy as to who were present there on the tracks, except as to whether there were three men or four with the deceased.

[2] Objections were sustained to several questions asked this witness on cross-examination. They were all immaterial to the merits and of no special importance as tests of credibility in any way, and the court did not err in the exercise of his discretion in excluding them.

[3] After the deceased was found by his brother and James Bain, he was taken to the house of Mrs. Shiplor and a surgeon was summoned who examined and treated him, being at the house several hours. After he had gone, the deceased had a conversation with Mrs. Shiplor in which he gave an account of the circumstances of the shooting, and this and later statements of the deceased were offered as dying declarations and over objection were submitted to the jury. It is insisted that there was not sufficient proof that the deceased believed that death was imminent, and that he had no hope of recovery. Dr. Foster, the physician, testified that on his first visit he told the deceased that he feared he was fatally injured and would never get well; that the injury was over vital organs, and he was afraid it was going to be fatal. In response to the deceased's question whether he thought he (the deceased) could live until his parents got there, the doctor answered that he believed he could. The deceased's mind was clear, and he realized what the doctor was telling him. After the doctor was gone the deceased inquired of Mar. Shiplor how long it was until train time, and, on being told about an hour and a half, said, ‘I cannot stand it; I cannot live.’ Again, he inquired if Mrs. Shiplor thought the train would be on time, and when she could not tell he said, ‘Mama won't get here.’ When Mrs. Shiplor said, ‘Yes; you are going to live all right,’ he said: ‘No, I cannot; I am too near gone; I am killed.’ He inquired again about the train,...