State v. Baldwin
| Decision Date | 11 May 1911 |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE. v. BALDWIN. |
That statements of deceased may be admitted as "dying declarations, " they must have been made in the expectancy and contemplation of impending death.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Homicide, Cent. Dig. §§ 430-437; Dec. Dig. § 203.*
For other definitions, see Words and Phrases, vol. 3, pp. 2297, 2298.]
Uncommunicated threats of deceased, uttered shortly before the homicide, tending to show animosity towards defendant and a purpose to do him serious bodily harm, are admissible in connection with evidence tending to show a killing in necessary self-defense, such evidence tending to throw light on the occurrence; evidence of such threats being admissible under such circumstances, as well as where they tend to corroborate communicated threats.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Homicide, Cent. Dig. §§ 399-413; Dec. Dig. § 190.*]
The portion of a charge that, if defendant fought willingly at any time up to the fatal moment, it would be the jury's duty to convict him of manslaughter, erroneous because, though fighting willingly, he might be fighting rightfully in necessary self-defense, was not sufficiently qualified by the concluding portion; there being no evidence that he retreated or otherwise showed that he abandoned the fight; but if you should find that he entered into the combat unwillingly, then you should proceed to consider his plea of self-defense, to correct it.
[Ed. Note.—For other cases, see Homicide, Cent. Dig. §§ 614-632; Dec. Dig. § 300.*]
Appeal from Superior Court, Watauga County; Pell, Judge.
William Baldwin was convicted of manslaughter, and appeals. Reversed, and new trial ordered.
L. D. Lowe and T. A. Love, for appellant.
Atty Gen. Bickett and Geo. L. Jones, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
On a former appeal in this cause, the prisoner having been convicted of murder in the first degree, it was held that the testimony as it then appeared of record did not justify such a verdict, ami a new trial was awarded, with the direction that if the evidence was the same the prisoner should be tried on the question of his guilt or innocence of the crime of manslaughter. State v. Baldwin, 152 N. C. 822, 68 S. E. 148, where the facts are very fully reported. This opinion having been certified down, and the evidence relevant to the inquiry being substantially the same as that received on the former trial, the case was submitted on the issue as indicated, and defendant, having been convicted of manslaughter, again appeals, assigning errors committed on the second trial.
It was urged that the court improperlyexcluded relevant statements of the deceased, tending to support the plea and claim of self-defense on the part of the prisoner, the same having been offered as dying declarations; but it is essential to the admissibility of such statements that they be made in the expectancy and contemplation of impending death, and we concur with his honor in the view that the facts as they now appear of record do not establish the conditions required.
It was insisted, further, that his honor made an erroneous ruling in excluding evidence of certain uncommunicated threats of the deceased, uttered shortly before the homicide, tending to show animosity towards the prisoner, and a purpose to do him serious bodily harm. It is now generally recognized that in trials for homicide uncommunicated threats are admissible, where they tend to corroborate threats which have been communicated to the prisoner; second, where they tend to throw light on the occurrence and aid the jury to a correct interpretation...
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Meldrum v. State
... ... Bolln, et al., 10 Wyo. 439, 471.) The foundation laid ... for the introduction of a transcript of the ... stenographer's notes of testimony of witnesses given at ... the former trial was insufficient. (Comp. Stat., 4560; 2 ... Cyc., 35; Cooper v. Galbraith, 24 N. J. L., 219; ... Baldwin v. Flagg, 43 N. J. L., 495; People v ... Ballard, 1 Cal. App., 222; 81 P. 1040; People v ... McFarlane, 138 Cal. 481; 71 P. 568; People v ... Long, 44 Mich. 296; 6 N. W., 673; Wheat v ... State, 110 Ala. 68; 20 So. 449.) The admission and ... reading of the transcript to the jury ... ...
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State v. Messick
...necessary tends to corroborate and support defendant's testimony and contention that he acted in self-defense. See State v. Baldwin, 155 N.C. 494, 496, 71 S.E. 212, 213 (1911)(stating evidence of uncommunicated threats should have been received because it tended to throw light upon the occu......
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State v. Mack, No. 62
...Such threats, although apparently not communicated to defendant, were competent to corroborate defendant's testimony. State v. Baldwin, 155 N.C. 494, 71 S.E. 212 (1911); State v. Turpin, 77 N.C. 473 (1877). Therefore, when Janie Crawford failed to relate to Officer Starnes that she had hear......
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State v. Blackwell
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