Scott v. State

• Decision Date: 12 December 1938
• Docket Number: 38324
• Citation: 183 Miss. 788,185 So. 195
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
• Parties: SCOTT v. STATE

185 So. 195

183 Miss. 788

SCOTT v. STATE

No. 38324

Supreme Court of Mississippi, Division A

December 12, 1938

APPEAL from the circuit court of Washington county HON. BEN F WASSON, Judge.

Walter Scott was convicted of manslaughter, and he appeals. Reversed, and appellant discharged.

Reversed, and appellant discharged.

Roy Stockdale, of Greenville, for appellant.

This cause should be remanded for the refusal of the trial court to grant the defendant the peremptory instruction requested. The verdict of the jury and the judgment of the court thereon is wholly inconsistent with the law and the facts as shown by an examination of the record. Although the State of Mississippi relied upon its theory that the defendant and appellant herein was operating his automobile at an excessive rate of speed, in such careless and reckless manner as to amount to a wanton disregard for human life and property thereby causing this accident, an examination of the record fails to disclose any estimate as to excessive speed in the operation of his car by the appellant, from any witness for the state or for the defense.

W. D Conn., Jr., Assistant Attorney-General, for the State.

The evidence for the state is such as to show that the appellant entered the intersection and undertook to make a left turn at a high rate of speed (a high rate of speed for a busy intersection.) The appellant himself said that he was going fifteen or twenty miles an hour, which may or may not have been excessive when all of the surrounding conditions are examined. A person must always keep his automobile under control and his speed or operation must be largely determined by the local conditions then existing. The appellant admitted, while a witness, that the hydraulic brakes on his car were defective and that he was driving the car with full knowledge of their defective condition. We submit that under all the evidence it was a jury question as to whether or not this appellant, under the circumstances, was guilty of culpable negligence in the operation of his automobile and that it would be highly improper for the court to take the case away from the jury and judicially declare that there was no evidence of culpable negligence.

OPINION

McGowen, J.

Appellant was convicted in the county court of Washington County of manslaughter, in that he struck with an automobile, and fatally injured, John Emerson. The indictment and cause had been transferred to the county court by the circuit court. Appellant was sentenced to serve a term of three years in the state penitentiary, and from said judgment appeals here.

On Sunday morning, July 4, 1937, John Emerson was killed by an automobile driven by appellant. The accident occurred at the intersection of Washington and Poplar Streets. Washington Street runs east and west, Poplar Street north and south. At the center of the intersection there was the usual traffic light flashing red to stop and green to go at intervals.

The main state witness, Hiler, was driving east on Washington Street and had stopped his car at the inter-section waiting for the light to turn from red to green. As the light so changed, he signalled for a left turn which would place him then as going north on Poplar Street. Just as he entered the intersection, a 1937 Plymouth Sedan, driven by the appellant, came up and undertook to pass the Hiler car and also to make a left turn to go north on Poplar Street. Instead of making the turn, the evidence indicates the appellant was driving at such speed that he did not negotiate the turn, ran up on the sidewalk at the northeast corner of the intersection, struck Emerson who was on the sidewalk, and then crashed head-on into a telephone post located a few feet north of the corner and on the east side of Poplar Street

Emerson was taken to a hospital and finally...