Prevatt v. State
| Citation | 89 So. 807,82 Fla. 284 |
| Parties | PREVATT v. STATE. |
| Decision Date | 19 October 1921 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Florida |
Error to Circuit Court, Palm Beach County; E. C. Davis, Judge.
J. F Prevatt was convicted of murder in the third degree, and he brings error.
Affirmed.
Syllabus by the Court
Exclusion of questions as to defendant's reputation not error where proper predicate not laid. Where no proper predicate has been laid, it is not error to exclude a question whether the witness had 'ever heard anything said against the defendant's reputation in the community,' or 'anything wrong said of him as a peaceable and law-abiding citizen, and for truth and veracity.'
Instruction as to defendant's testimony held not improperly worded. A charge that 'under the laws of this state the defendant has the right to take the stand and testify in his own behalf, and such testimony goes to you the same as the testimony of any other witness in the case, to be weighed and considered according to the same rules,' is not so worded as to prejudice the defendant before the jury.
One may be convicted of third degree murder under first degree indictment, and instruction thereon is proper. In a trial on an indictment for murder in the first degree, it is not error to give the statutory definition of murder in the third degree, since all degrees of unlawful homicide are included in an indictment for murder in the first degree, and under the statute a verdict of murder in the third degree may be sustained if the evidence would sustain a verdict of murder in the first or second degree, even though the evidence does not show murder in the third degree as defined by the statute.
Record need not show defendant's presence at ruling on motion for new trial. It is not essential to the validity of a judgment of conviction in felony cases that the record should show affirmatively that the defendant was personally present at the hearing of and the ruling upon his motion for new trial.
Where evidence sustains a verdict of murder in second degree conviction of third degree murder not disturbed. There is evidence to sustain a verdict of murder in the second degree therefore, under the statute, the verdict of murder in the third degree will not be disturbed.
C. D. Abbott, of Palm Beach, for plaintiff in error.
Rivers H. Buford, Atty. Gen., and Marvin C. McIntosh, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
On an indictment for murder in the first degree, J. F. Prevatt was convicted of murder in the third degree, and took writ of error.
At the trial several witnesses for the defendant testified that they knew the general reputation of the defendant in the community where he resides for being a peaceable and law-abiding citizen and for truth and veracity, and that it was good. Other witnesses for the defendant testified that they had known the defendant for several years. They were not asked if they knew the general reputation of the defendant as a law-abiding truthful citizen, but were asked:
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Buford v. State
...he could only have elicited evidence of his general reputation in the community, not specific instances of non-violence. Prevatt v. State, 82 Fla. 284, 89 So. 807 (1921); Reddick v. State, 25 Fla. 112, 5 So. 704 Defendant next contends that section 921.141, Florida Statutes (1977), is uncon......
-
Fogler v. State
... ... R. A. 830, 37 Am. St. Rep. 572; ... State v. Wisnewski, 13 N.D. 648, 102 N.W. 883, and ... the many cases cited in the note thereto reported in 3 Ann ... Cas. 907; 16 C.J. 1021) ... The ... charge here considered is more favorable to the accused than ... that approved in Prevatt v. State, 82 Fla. 284, 89 ... So. 807. See, also, the discussion in O'Steen v ... State (Fla.) 111 So. 725, and Hampton v. State, ... 50 Fla. 55, 39 So. 421 ... The ... second and fourth assignments question the form of the ... verdict, which was as follows: ... 'July ... ...
-
Jimenez v. State
...by that excess of its probative force which the jury has ignored.' See also Roberts v. State, 94 Fla. 149, 113 So. 726, Prevatt v. State, 82 Fla. 284, 89 So. 807, Bowden v. State, 152 Fla. 715, 12 So.2d 887, and 42 Corpus Juris Secundum, Indictments and Informations, § 299, p. 1327: 'The ge......
-
Luke v. State, s. 1046-1048
...were convicted of a lesser degree of unlawful homicide, even though there is no evidence to support such lesser degree (Prevatt v. State, 1921, 82 Fla. 284, 89 So. 807; Johnson v. State, 1908, 55 Fla. 41, 46 So. 174; Clemmons v. State, 1901, 43 Fla. 200, 30 So. 699; Parrish v. State, Fla.Ap......