State v. Freeman
| Decision Date | 01 March 1898 |
| Citation | 29 S.E. 94,122 N.C. 1012 |
| Parties | STATE v. FREEMAN et al. |
| Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from superior court, Hertford county; Brown, Judge.
Sella Freeman and James Lowe were convicted of murder in the second decree, and appeal. Affirmed.
On a prosecution for murder, there was evidence that defendants and one J. went to deceased's house; that J. cursed deceased's wife, and threatened her life, and then went into his house, got deceased's two guns, met him at the gate, and shot him in defendants' presence; that defendants said nothing, and after the shooting they walked away with J.; that defendants were with J. when he said to deceased's family that he was going to kill the whole family and burn the house; that a short time before the killing a witness had a conversation with defendants, and one of them said that J. had sent for deceased to come over and compromise a difficulty, and that J. had loaded his gun, and was going to shoot deceased if he did not settle; that defendant asked witness for cartridges to fit his pistol saying, "I am afraid we are going to have trouble with J. to-day;" that on the day of the killing J. came to defendant's house without a gun; that he and F. then went off together, and in 20 minutes witness heard two guns fired over at deceased's house; that when they came back witness said, "If deceased is killed, it will go hard with all of you." Held, that the evidence justified a finding that defendants were present, aiding and abetting J.
Winborne & Lawrence and Shepherd & Busbee, for appellants.
The Attorney General, Geo. Cowper, and L. L. Smith, for the State.
The prisoners in apt time requested the court in writing (Code §§ 414, 415) to charge that the evidence was not sufficient to establish the guilt of the accused for any offense declined, and prisoners excepted. The court charged the jury, among other things, that "if they should find from the evidence that the prisoners at the bar and Prince Jernigan went to the house of the deceased in pursuance of a preconcerted arrangement to go together to the house of the deceased and pick a quarrel with him, and if he resisted that Jernigan should kill him, and if the jury should further find that the prisoners were present for the purpose of aiding and abetting Jernigan in carrying out any such preconcerted and prearranged agreement, if any was made, it would be murder in the first degree." Prisoners excepted. The proposition of law laid down is correct, and the exception can be based only on the ground taken in the first exception above, i.e. that there was not sufficient evidence to submit the case to the jury as to the prisoners (Freeman and Lowe); so that, in effect, there is but this one exception, and all other exceptions were abandoned, and properly so, in this court.
It was admitted that Prince Jernigan killed the deceased. It was in evidence that Jernigan, and the prisoners, Freeman and Lowe came to the house of the deceased together; that Jernigan (a colored man) cursed the wife of the deceased, and threatened her life, and then went into his house, got the two guns of the deceased, carried then to the kitchen, met the deceased at the gate, and shot him as he came in. Freeman and Lowe were present, and said nothing, and, after the killing, they walked off in company with the murderer. They came up in company with Jernigan when he said to the wife of the deceased that he was going to kill the whole family, and burn the house, and they saw Jernigan go to the gate, gun in hand, to meet the husband, whom he had threatened to kill, but they said nothing. Jernigan had a gun in his hand when he came there with the prisoners, threatening to kill. It was further in evidence by one Haggard that the Sunday before the killing he had a conversation with Freeman and Lowe about some difficulty as to cattle of deceased's breaking into a field, and Freedom said that Jernigan had sent for the deceased to come over and compromise the fuss about the cattle. Freeman further said that Jernigan had loaded his gun, and was going over to...
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