Staggs v. State
| Decision Date | 04 May 1962 |
| Parties | , 210 Tenn. 175 Lewis Evans STAGGS v. STATE of Tennessee. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
Ray Hollis, Waynesboro, for plaintiff in error.
George F. McCanless, Atty. Gen., Lyle Reid, Asst. Atty. Gen., Nashville, for State.
The plaintiff-in-error, defendant, has appealed from a conviction of murder in the second degree for which he was sentenced to serve ten years in the State Penitentiary, and has assigned errors.
The facts are that on November 18, 1960, at about 6:00 o'clock in the evening Maxine Stricklin, a little girl, aged twelve, lost her life when riding in an automobile owned by John Petty and driven by his thirteen year old daughter, Linda Gayle Petty. She was sitting on the front seat between the father and the daughter and the three of them were returning to their respective homes from a visit to their neighbor, Johnny Ferrell, who lived on U.S. Highway Route 64 in Hardin County, Tennessee. They had traveled in a southwesterly direction on a graveled country road for a distance of about one-half mile when a truck operated by the defendant, Lewis Evans Staggs, approached them from the opposite direction. He was driving a Ford truck of one and one-half to two tons rated capacity which had a flat bed or stake body on it and according to the proof and pictures of the truck exhibited in the testimony, there was nothing on the bed of the truck except two pieces of rough lumber approximately two inches in thickness and eight inches wide and possibly ten feet in length which were chained to the bed of the truck. When the two vehicles collided one of these pieces of lumber or board which was evidently extending beyond the bed of the truck came through the windshield of the Petty automobile striking Maxine Stricklin with such force and violence about her face and head as to bring about her death within a short time thereafter.
According to the testimony of Mr. Petty and his daughter, Linda Gayle, their automobile was traveling along a road known as Old Town Road and it was proceeding in a west or southwesterly direction on said road at about ten to twelve miles per hour and was well on its right hand side of the road. Linda Gayle says that she saw the truck approaching her from the opposite direction and that it was going pretty fast and was in the center of the road and as it approached her car it cut over and struck her car and then continued on down the highway. In an effort to avoid the collision, Linda Gayle pulled the wheels of her car onto the shoulder of the road on her side and they were within six or seven inches of the drainage ditch running along the side of the road when the collision occurred.
Mr. Petty testified that the road at the point of the collision was twenty to twenty-five feet wide. That as the truck approached them its left wheels were over the center of the road and the truck angled toward the Petty automobile as it came down the highway. He estimates the speed of the truck to have been sixty to seventy miles per hour, which was based upon his observation of the truck before and after the accident. He saw it proceed down the highway after the accident occurred and so did Linda Gayle.
The Highway Patrolmen and all other witnesses who saw the Petty automobile after the accident say that the right wheels were within inches of the drainage ditch and that when the wrecker pulled the car away the right rear wheel slipped off into the ditch. One witness testified that the tracks leading back from the car for a distance of fifteen to twenty feet was 'right next to the ditch line'. There were other tracks made by the dual wheels of the truck which were on the wrong side of the road, or on the side occupied by the Petty automobile, and which after leading to the point of collision traveled back across the highway and into the drainage ditch and then out and on down the highway.
One witness testified that he saw the truck parked across a road in a curve at about 6:45 o'clock on the evening in question and this was at a point six or seven miles from the scene of the accident. He further testified that the defendant was in said truck and was slumped across the steering wheel. That he reported this to the law enforcement officials of the City of Savannah and when they arrived at about 10:00 P. M. the truck was still parked in the same way and manner and the defendant was still in the truck lying limp across the steering wheel.
They say that when the defendant was aroused he was very arrogant, and was in a drunken condition and when asked about the accident he replied 'I don't know anything about an accident, I aint had no wreck'.
This is the only statement that the defendant is recorded as having made about this entire matter. He did not testify in his own behalf.
The only testimony offered in behalf of the defendant was that of a photographer who made some pictures of the scene of the accident several days after it had occurred. He testified that glass and debris was found by him at the point which he understood to have been the place of the collision, on the defendant's right hand side of the road as he traveled in a northeasterly direction.
The board which brought about the death of the little girl was broken by the impact and one end was found at the scene and the other end was found still chained to the bed of the defendant's truck.
From reading the record in this case we are convinced there is no doubt about the guilt of the defendant.
It has been repratedly held that a guilty verdict approved by the Trial Judge, accredited the testimony of witnesses for the State, and establishes...
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