Perdue v. State

Decision Date11 March 1946
Docket Number36059.
Citation25 So.2d 185,199 Miss. 624
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
PartiesPERDUE v. STATE.

H. F. Jones, of Belzoni, for appellant.

Greek L. Rice, Atty. Gen., and Geo. H. Ethridge Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

McGEHEE, Justice.

This appeal is from a conviction on the charge of having feloniously stolen a pneumatic rubber automobile tire from a car parked on the street. One J. C. Delph who was apprehended by the owner while replacing the stolen new tire in the nighttime with an old worn out one, claimed that he was changing the tire at the instance of the accused and that it was the accused who was seen to back his own car out from the curb nearby and drive away when the owner of the stolen tire appeared on the scene. However, one Walter Diggs testified that it was he who backed the other car out and drove away at the time in question.

The witness Delph at first stated to the owner and to the officer that the accused paid him 60¢ and asked him to take the tire which had been removed from the car and have it patched, and that while he was undertaking to replace it with the old tire, the accused put the new one in his car before driving away, and while the owner was approaching the scene. However the witness was well acquainted with the accused and failed to then accuse him by name to the owner and to the officer. He also admitted on the witness stand that he lied to them about having been paid 60¢ for his services. His explanation for this, and for not having named the accused as the guilty person, was that he wanted to go and find him, beat him up and make him bring the tire back. Nevertheless, he claims to have found the stolen new tire in the edge of a stream of water on the next day, nearer to his own home than to that of the accused, and he then failed to retrieve the tire and return it to the owner. He undertook to show the officers where he had found the tire the next day, but the same has not yet been found.

The witness further contended that he first decided to accuse the appellant of the crime when the officer 'turned the key on me at the jail.' Thereupon, the officer visited the home of the appellant but failed to find the stolen in his possession, and the proof is silent as to whether the appellant's spare tire was missing from the trunk of his own car.

At the conclusion of all of the evidence, the appellant requested that the court instruct the jury to return a verdict...

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1 cases
  • Jones v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • March 28, 1979
    ...65 So.2d 262 (1953); Young v. State, 255 So.2d 318 (Miss.1971); Pegram v. State, 228 Miss. 860, 89 So.2d 846 (1956); Perdue v. State, 199 Miss. 624, 25 So.2d 185 (1946); Lyle v. State, 193 Miss. 102, 8 So.2d 459 (1942); Nichols v. State, 174 Miss. 271, 164 So. 20 In Burks v. United States ,......

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