State v. Hackett

• Decision Date: 15 October 1949
• Docket Number: 16268.
• Citation: 55 S.E.2d 696,215 S.C. 434
• Parties: STATE v. HACKETT.
• Court: South Carolina Supreme Court

55 S.E.2d 696

215 S.C. 434

STATE v. HACKETT.

No. 16268.

Supreme Court of South Carolina

October 15, 1949

Charles A. Young, Greenwood, Howard L. Burns Greenwood, J. W. Bradford, Jr., Greenwood, for appellant.

Hugh Beasley, Solicitor, Greenwood, for respondent.

FISHBURNE Justice.

The appellant, Wade Hackett, was found guilty in the Court of General Sessions for Greenwood County of the murder of J. W. Hunt. The jury recommended to mercy, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the state penitentiary.

At the conclusion of testimony offered by the State, and upon the close of all the testimony, appellant moved for a directed verdict of not guilty. After the rendition of the verdict, a motion was made for judgment non obstante veredicto, and in the alternative for a new trial. All of these motions were refused.

In order to prove the guilt of appellant, the State relied wholly upon circumstantial evidence, and the sole question raised by this appeal is whether the evidence adduced at the trial meets the requirements of law as to the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence necessary for conviction.

J. W Hunt, a country merchant sixty-one years of age, who operated a store located about three miles south of Greenwood in a sparsely settled community, was shot on the evening of January 17, 1948, and died almost immediately, without regaining consciousness. There were no eye witnesses and the evidence fixed the time of the killing at sometime between 7:00 and 7:30 o'clock p. m. His body was discovered, as the evidence shows, very soon after he was shot. No one heard the report of the pistol, nor did anyone see the murderer enter or leave the store.

The body of the deceased when discovered was lying on the floor at the rear of the store between the end of the counter and the stove. It may be inferred that the person who killed him entered the store as a pretensive customer and asked for six cans of Carnation milk, for in a paper bag on the counter were six cans of milk of this brand. It was shown that six cans of this milk were priced at 45 cents, and this amount had been rung up on the cash register near the end of the counter. A $5 bill, evidently tendered by the person who shot Mr. Hunt, and 55 cents in change were lying on the cash register slab. Three $1 bills lay on the floor beside the body near the right hand, and another $1 bill was found beneath the body. An empty 32-calibre pistol shell of a type fired from an automatic pistol was found in a corner back of the stove. Another empty shell of the same type was discovered about thirty days later behind the counter, and both were turned over to the sheriff. There was evidence of only one bullet wound in the body of Mr. Hunt, and after a thorough search a second bullet was never found in the store. Mr. Hunt's death was caused by a 32-calibre copper jacketed bullet fired from a Colt automatic 32-calibre pistol, which entered under the collarbone on the left side about midway, and penetrated diagonally downward and to the right through the heart and the right lung, and was taken from the body about the fourth rib space at the right of the backbone. As stated, this bullet was turned over to the sheriff who marked it for identification.

The body of the deceased was discovered by two young women customers who said that when they approached the store, which was around closing time--probably between 7:00 and 7:15 o'clock p. m.--the light under the shelter on the outside of the store had been turned out; the front door was closed but was unlocked and they pushed it open. One light was burning in the rear of the store above the cash register. At first they saw no one and called Mr. Hunt; they thought they heard a long drawn breath, and looking down saw Mr. Hunt's body outstretched on the floor at the end of the counter. They immediately gave the alarm, neighbors arrived upon the scene, and a call was put in to the sheriff's office at Greenwood, three miles away. The sheriff stated that this call was received at headquarters at 7:30 p. m.

At 7:00 o'clock on the night of January 17th it was dark. The weather was foggy and rainy, and if there were any tracks of feet or automobile tires they were soon obliterated by the officers and others arriving upon the scene. Upon search being made, no substantial amount of money was found in the cash register. It appears that Mr. Hunt had been known to carry on his person three or four hundred dollars, but there is no testimony that he had any large amount of money on him the night of the murder. However, it can reasonably be inferred that robbery was the motive of the crime because the hip pockets of the deceased had been pulled inside out.

Mr. Hunt's store was located on United States Highway No. 25, a much traveled thoroughfare between Greenwood and Augusta. The appellant, Hackett, lived on what is designated as the Mount Moriah Road which branches off from U. S. Highway No. 25 about one mile from the Hunt store. Hackett, a Negro thirty-four years of age, lived on a farm about seven miles down this road, and although he had been living in this community practically all of his life, he testified upon the trial that he did not know Mr. Hunt, had never heard of him, and had never been in his store.

On February 28, 1948, about six weeks after the murder, Hackett carried his 32-calibre Colt automatic pistol to a local pawnshop in Greenwood and pawned it. He had originally purchased this pistol from the same pawnshop about ten months prior to the murder. The pistol was turned over to the sheriff of Greenwood County the same day it was pawned. As a result of comparison tests made by ballistics experts with the Law Enforcement Division of the State and Federal Bureau of Investigation, the sheriff had reason to believe that the bullet taken from the body of Hunt had been fired from appellant's 32-calibre Colt automatic pistol.

Wade Hackett was taken into custody on March 5, 1948, and was indicted and arraigned for the murder of Hunt at the June (1948) term of the Court of General Sessions, at which time the three able counsel now representing him were appointed by the court. He was later tried at the September (1948) term.

Appellant, who had a wife and six children living with him--three of whom were children of his wife by a former marriage--had been without employment but had obtained work with the Greenwood Packing Plant on January 16, 1948, the day before Hunt was killed. When he was taken into custody on March 5th and was told by the sheriff and the arresting officers that the bullet which killed Hunt had been fired from his pistol, he asked to see the pistol. It was at once shown to him and he admitted that the pistol was his, and at the same time according to the officers, he glanced over his shoulder at Deputy Sheriff Buzhardt, and said that he would not have admitted that he owned the pistol if Mr. Buzhardt had not seen it in his car before, and knew that it belonged to him.

When the pistol was pawned by appellant on February 28, 1948, he was told by Mr. Gunnells, the pawnshop keeper, that the Greenwood police inspected pawnshops in Greenwood every Monday morning to check on stolen articles. Appellant made no objection, doubtless knowing that he had not stolen the pistol. He secured a loan of $12. Upon trial he repeated what he told the officers with reference to the pistol, and stated time and again that the pistol had never been out of his possession until it was pawned. He said that he always carried this pistol in the pocket of his automobile on week ends for his protection, because it was on week ends that one might expect trouble and run into difficulties. That when he would return home he would invariably take the pistol from the pocket of his car and place it under the mattress of his wife's bed, where it stayed until he would move it and put it in his automobile pocket again when leaving home in the car. He stated that he never forgot and left it in his car upon returning home, and laways followed the procedure outlined. He also said that he knew that no one had had his pistol.

Appellant attempted to establish an alibi. He said that his mother and father lived about 200 yards from him on the Mount Moriah Road. His mother would go to Greenwood on Saturdays to make her weekly purchases at the grocery store of Mr. White, and that at her request he promised to go to this store and get the supplies purchased by her on this particular Saturday of January 17, 1948. He left his home about 6 o'clock p. m. in his car, drove to Greenwood, obtained his mother's groceries, and proceeded out of Greenwood on Route 25. When he reached a point on this highway about one mile from Hunt's store, he turned to the right on the Mount Moriah Road and drove directly to his mother's home, reaching there about 7 o'clock.

According to the mother's testimony, after making her purchases at the White grocery store, she went to the bus station in Greenwood, from which a bus was due to leave at 6:30 p. m. She boarded this bus, and from her testimony and that of the bus driver, it may be inferred that this being Saturday night, the bus did not leave Greenwood until about 6:45 o'clock p. m. When it left, well loaded with passengers, it proceeded along the usual route out of Greenwood along Route 25 and turned out on the Mount Moriah Road on which she and her husband lived. Their home was located about seven miles from Greenwood, and the bus driver said it usually took him about thirty minutes to make the trip to this point, but on Saturday nights it took a little longer for his passengers to get off with their bundles at the various places where they lived. From the Hackett (parents of appellant) home the bus would proceed about two miles...