Rainey v. State
| Decision Date | 30 June 1943 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 703. |
| Citation | 17 So.2d 683,31 Ala.App. 271 |
| Parties | RAINEY v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Appeals |
Rehearing Denied Oct. 5, 1943.
Hood Inzer, Martin & Suttle and L.B. Rainey, all of Gadsden for appellant.
Wm N. McQueen, Acting Atty. Gen., and Geo. C. Hawkins, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
The appeal in this case is from a judgment, convicting the defendant (appellant) of manslaughter in the first degree and also from a judgment overruling and denying the defendant's motion for a new trial.
The indictment against the defendant contained four counts, each of which charged him with having committed murder in the second degree. This indictment in its entirety, and each count thereof, was predicated upon the alleged reckless and wanton negligence of the defendant in driving his automobile against, on, into, or over Chester Heptinstall upon a public highway of this State leading from Gadsden, Etowah County, to Anniston, Calhoun County.
The scene of the alleged homicide was shown to be about three miles east of Gadsden, on said highway.
The record in this case is voluminous and the exceptions noted during the trial of the defendant are numerous.
Briefly stated, the uncontroverted facts are that on the night of November 10, or the very early morning of November 11, 1939, Chester Heptinstall, the deceased, was driving his automobile from a roadhouse, known as "Wright's Place," located on or near the above named highway, towards Gadsden. He was accompanied by J.C. Heptinstall, Ola Bagley and Vivian Keeling. At this time Chester Heptinstall and Vivian Keeling occupied the front seat of the automobile and J.C. Heptinstall and Ola Bagley occupied the rear seat thereof. After Chester Heptinstall had driven his car a short distance from the above roadhouse going towards Gadsden on the above highway, he stopped the same on the right hand side of the center line of said highway for the alleged purpose of changing drivers. With the head lights of the car on and burning the left hand wheels of the car are said to have been about three feet to the right of the center line of said highway.
After Chester Heptinstall had thus parked his automobile in the highway he alighted therefrom by way of the left front door (the front door nearest the center line of the highway). J.C. Heptinstall got out of the automobile by way of the rear right door of said car. Vivian Keeling got out of said car by way of the right front door thereof. Ola Bagley, according to her testimony, was attempting to get out of the rear left hand door of said automobile when it was hit by another motor vehicle, and when she was hurt by the impact. Where Chester Heptinstall, the deceased, was at the time the motor vehicle which struck the Heptinstall car was approaching, or when it struck the Heptinstall car, the testimony does not show. Ola Bagley, herself, testified that at this time she did not know definitely where Chester was; that he was out from under the driver's seat and that J.C. Heptinstall was out from the back where he had been riding. A short time after the Heptinstall car was struck, or sideswiped, by the other motor vehicle, and after it had passed on, the body of Chester Heptinstall was found wounded and broken lying some 65 feet to the rear of the Heptinstall car just on the right edge of the pavement of said highway.
Where J.C. Heptinstall was at this time the testimony does not show. Ola Bagley testified that while she was attempting to alight from said automobile by the left rear door she saw the headlights of a motor vehicle coming from in the direction of Gadsden and going in the direction of Wright's Place, and that said motor vehicle was traveling rapidly and that it came straight on and struck the Heptinstall car, hurting and wounding said witness on the thigh and hips. She testified that the car was evidently running 65 miles an hour and that after striking the Heptinstall car it went straight on, without stopping.
After Ola Bagley was assisted to the front of the car by Vivian Keeling, J.C. Heptinstall called her and she went to him, and from where J.C. Heptinstall was at that time (her testimony does not show but from this spot) she saw Chester Heptinstall's body lying on the edge of the pavement as above stated. She did not locate J.C. Heptinstall's position, or which side of the highway it was on.
It had been raining off and on after ten o'clock that night. Kenneth Rainey, appellant, accompanied by Lester Simmons and Bob Owens, was driving his Ford automobile from Gadsden to Wright's Place on the above named highway that night. These three men were sitting on the front seat of said Ford car. The windshield wiper on the Rainey car was not in working order at this time. It had gotten out of repair during that night. The Rainey car, being driven by Kenneth Rainey, and traveling at a rate of speed of from 40 to 45 miles per hour as testified to by him and Lester Simmons, and through a downpour of rain, met a motor truck which crowded the Rainey car in passing; after passing the Rainey car they saw the headlights of another motor vehicle which appeared to be approaching them. This motor vehicle appeared to be a truck with something hanging out of the body thereof, or leaning against the same. The defendant testified that he was blinded by the lights of the motor vehicle which they were approaching. As to this Lester Simmons, who testified as a witness for the State, testified that he and Bob Owens went out from Gadsden with the defendant in the defendant's automobile, all three of them sitting on the front seat, and that while they were driving out to Claude Wright's Place, they had an accident about two miles out from Gadsden and as to this we quote from his testimony: ...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
82 Hawai'i 1, Iddings v. Mee-Lee
...of known duty with reckless indifference to consequences." Black's Law Dictionary, 1582 (6th ed.1990) (citing Rainey v. State, 31 Ala.App. 271, 17 So.2d 683, 686 (1943)) (emphasis added). See also Mayflower Restaurant, supra, (defining "wilful and wanton misconduct" as an intentional Second......
-
People v. Dellinger
...peril and a failure to take available preventative action knowing that such failure will probably result in injury. Rainey v. State [1943], 31 Ala.App. 271, 17 So.2d 683, 686." (Black's Law Dict. (5th ed. 1979) p. 1419, italics The same source defines "wantonness" as: "Conscious doing of so......
-
Harris v. State
...245 Ala. 458, 17 So.2d 687, 689, the Supreme Court, on certiorari, corrected statement appearing in the opinion of this court, 31 Ala.App. 271, 17 So.2d 683. We 'We note that in the opinion of the Court of Appeals reference is made to the fact that in wantonness the accused must have actual......
-
Gills v. State
...intention to kill was proven or not.' Reynolds v. State, 24 Ala.App. 249, 134 So. 815, 816. Appellant's counsel cites Rainey v. State, 31 Ala.App. 271, 17 So.2d 683. This court held in effect that wanton injury must be predicated upon actual knowledge of another's peril. On certiorari, 245 ......