State v. Bodie
| Decision Date | 31 August 1948 |
| Docket Number | 16124. |
| Citation | 49 S.E.2d 575,213 S.C. 325 |
| Parties | STATE v. BODIE. |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
J A. Hutto, of Columbia, for appellant.
T. P. Taylor, Sol., of Columbia, for respondent.
The appellant, Olin Bodie, was convicted of assault and battery with intent to kill Billy Abbott with a knife. His punishment was fixed at three years in the state penitentiary.
On November 29, 1947, the appellant, his brother, Leslie Bodie and a friend, Paul Kessler, began a night's entertainment in the city of Columbia. At 6 o'clock in the evening they got into an automobile and drove around the city and its environs, stopping from time to time at night clubs and road houses, where they danced and drank liquor and beer. This continued until about 11 o'clock, when they drew up and parked their car on a side street adjoining a three-family apartment house. The prosecuting witness, Billy Abott, and his wife occupied the front apartment, and Wylie B. Head with his wife made their home in the rear apartment. There was an apartment upstairs occupied by Taylor Harley.
Appellant told Kessler, who was in a drunken condition, to get out of the automobile and go to the apartment building and see if any one was at home. He did so, and upon his return to the car told appellant that he saw a light in the lower hall, whereupon appellant and Kessler went to the apartment house, walked through the front door and down the hall to the rear apartment occupied by the Heads. Kessler, who was leading, knocked on the door, and uninvited, entered the room and stood by the heater. Bodie stood in the open doorway and inquired of Mr. Head, whom he knew only casually, if his sister Mildred was at home. The room they entered was Head's bedroom. His wife and Mrs. Abbott were in the kitchen, and Head and the other two apartment dwellers, Abbott, the prosecuting witness, and Harley, were at a table engaged in a sociable game of cards. Head told appellant that his sister was not at home. Realizing that both Kessler and appellant were under the influence of whiskey, he ordered them to leave the premises.
It appears from the state's testimony that Bodie or Kessler replied that they were in no hurry. Head then arose from the card table, went to the heater where Kessler was standing, seized him and pushed him through the bedroom door out into the hall. He then shoved appellant across the hall against the wall of the staircase which led to the second floor. The appellant fell, and in rising came up with a knife, the blade of which was about four inches long, and attempted to cut or stab Mr. Head. Head warded off the blow, re-entered his room and got his rifle. While he was going through the process of loading the rifle, Abbott left the room, and walked toward his own apartment.
The Abbott apartment was on the same floor at the front of the building, and adjoined Head's; it was reached by a common hallway which was unlighted. As Abbott approached the front of the house and was within a few feet of his door, the appellant, who, Abbott says, was hidden behind the door to the staircase closet, suddenly emerged, grasped Abbott by the back of the neck, and with the other hand cut him with his knife. The deep cut or slash extended from his chin around the side of his face to the back of his neck, and required surgical and medical treatment for ten days. After cutting Abbott, appellant made his exit through the front door, ran around the side of the house and went to his home. Kessler had preceded him from the apartment building. Appellant's brother, who had remained outside in the automobile, was arrested that night by the officers, who were promptly summoned by Head. Appellant was arrested the next day, and Kessler several days later.
As stated, appellant had a casual acquaintance with Mr. Head, and was altogether unacquainted with Abbott, whom he cut, and Harley. Kessler, who walked into the room of Mr. Head uninvited where he, Abbott and Harley were playing cards, was a stranger to all of them.
We have stated in substance the testimony offered by the State, practically all of which was admitted by appellant. Appellant testified, however, that after Mr. Head had pushed him down by the staircase wall, he was making his way to the front door when someone struck him, and it was then, and only in self-defense, that he cut Abbott. As stated, they were strangers to each other. The hall was unlighted and he did not know the identity of the person he cut. Abbott testified that he had no weapon of any...
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