State v. Farley
| Decision Date | 15 December 1942 |
| Docket Number | 9344. |
| Citation | 23 S.E.2d 616,125 W.Va. 266 |
| Parties | STATE v. FARLEY. |
| Court | West Virginia Supreme Court |
B F. Howard, of Welch, for plaintiff in error.
William S. Wysong, Atty. Gen., and Kenneth E. Hines, Asst. Atty Gen., for defendant in error.
In the unincorporated mining town called Carswell in McDowell County, at about 6:30 in the evening of August 31, 1941 James Adkins was shot through the heart and killed by T. J Farley, who was thereafter, in the Circuit Court of that county, indicted, convicted and sentenced to be hanged, and this writ of error was granted upon the petition of the accused. The eight separate assignments of error set forth in the petition, in response to the prayer of which this writ was granted, are all included in the five questions submitted and briefed an d stated as follows by the plaintiff in error:
It being admitted that the accused caused the death of Adkins by intentionally shooting him with a revolver while both were in the room rented by Farley in the Carswell Clubhouse, the question raised by the first assignment of error concerns whether or not the evidence offered by the State is sufficient to establish deliberation and premeditation, and since the feeling between the two men rested, not upon an immediate occurrence but, upon the reported relationship between the accused and the victim's wife which gave rise, according to Farley's position, to circumstances which justified the killing on the theory of self- defense, we think it is necessary to narrate what we believe to be the material facts.
Both Adkins and Farley were originally from Logan County. Farley had been working in McDowell County about five years. The Adkinses moved to McDowell County and came to Carswell while Farley was located there apparently in the early fall of 1940, at first living in a boarding house and later renting a dwelling from the coal company, at whose operation Adkins was employed, as was Farley. At the time of the killing, Adkins and Farley seem to have been very nearly the same size, being of average height and weight. Two or three months before August 31, 1941, Farley, he says at the suggestion of Adkins who wished to have the purchase of a car financially simplified, rented a room from the Adkinses and took his meals at their home. He and Mrs. Adkins were thereafter seen frequently together in public, and on a few occasions were known to be together alone. A number of witnesses testify to having advised Farley to leave married women alone and to be attentive only to single girls, to statements that Farley made to the effect that he could not help being in love with Mrs. Adkins, and that due to the threat that Adkins had made to take his life, he could kill Adkins and "go free". The two had snapshots made of themselves in very familiar poses.
In the neighborhood of July 21st, according to the testimony of the Adkins girl, a child of eight who slept with her mother, her father returned in the morning after daylight and found Farley with only his night clothes on in bed with Mrs. Adkins and the child. Adkins seemed not to "get mad" and there were no immediate consequences. On another occasion, the child thought she saw Farley kiss her mother. At another time, he was on the day bed in her mother's room.
On July 21st, Farley and Mrs. Adkins were together in a place called "The Grill", which seems to have been in Kimbal near Carswell. Adkins found them there, and, according to Farley, backed him against a wall where he threatened to kill him with an open knife. One witness for the defendant testified that Adkins struck Farley with his clinched fist. According to others, Adkins stated that he ought to kill Farley. Apparently, after the occurrence, they talked together outside The Grill, and seemed to be not in combative moods. However, Farley at that time left the Adkins home, obtaining a room in the clubhouse at Carswell directly across the hall from the head of the stairs leading to the second floor.
There is testimony concerning an altercation Farley had with two men who apparently were in the Adkins home at around 4 o'clock in the afternoon of August 31st, and to the fact that Adkins, who was there at the time, ordered them out of the house and went to the house of a neighbor in an attempt to procure a revolver, evidently fearing that he might become involved. His effort was not successful, and around supper time, or between 6 and 7 o'clock, he, Farley and Mrs. Adkins decided to go together to a boarding house in Carswell where they could procure a drink. They were seen together in the car, Adkins under the wheel and Mrs. Adkins sitting between him and Farley, by a witness who had a message for a person whom he asked them about. They went to the boarding house and from there to The Grill, where Adkins undertook to persuade Mrs. Adkins to go home. According to her statement, not wanting to go home and wishing to avoid an argument, she engaged a taxi and drove to Kimbal, apparently leaving Farley and Adkins without explaining her purpose. According to Farley's testimony, when Adkins missed his wife he seemed to at once become suspicious that she and Farley planned to meet for the purpose of an illicit tryst. According to Farley, Adkins, for the purpose of preventing their meeting, required him, Farley, to accompany him in searching for Mrs. Adkins. They went to several possible meeting places and ended by going to the clubhouse and to Farley's room, where the shooting took place.
The clubhouse is quite a large frame building with a full front porch reached by six steps and to the left beyond the middle front door is a stairway which turns at right angles from a landing half way up. On the second story are eleven double bedrooms, Farley's being the second from the front of the house directly across the hallway from the head of the stairs. L. F. Collins was on the front porch of the clubhouse when they got there. Jesse Powell was not there when they arrived, but was on the porch when the shot was fired. Collins says that when Farley and Adkins arrived at the clubhouse they were walking rather "pert", Farley who spoke, leading Adkins who didn't speak. After they had gone through the screen door and upstairs, within what he estimates to be a minute, he heard the report of the gun. Powell, who was then on the porch, went to the window and was cautioned by Collins to "watch" because there might be more shooting. Adkins then came onto the porch with his hand to his chest, and upon being asked by Powell what occurred, made a statement that Collins did not understand, but which Powell testified was "Tom Farley killed me." He then walked to the head of the porch steps, attempted to support himself by putting his arm around the post, failed and fell into the yard where he died immediately, the bullet having pierced the left ventricle of the heart. Collins immediately tried to be of help to Adkins, but seeing that that was impossible, went up and spoke to Farley on the porch with the gun in his hand. Farley asked where Adkins had been hit, and whether the wound was near the heart, and...
To continue reading
Request your trial