State v. Jackson

• Decision Date: 27 November 1946
• Docket Number: 506,508
• Citation: 40 S.E.2d 417,226 N.C. 760
• Parties: STATE v. JACKSON. STATE v. BLACKWELL.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

40 S.E.2d 417

226 N.C. 760

STATE v. JACKSON.

STATE v. BLACKWELL.

Nos. 506, 508

Supreme Court of North Carolina

November 27, 1946

Criminal prosecution on indictments charging felonious assaults, heard on the lesser charge of assault with a deadly weapon, consolidated for trial.

Defendant Jackson operates a fish camp near Crowder's Mountain in Gaston County. On the night of January 20, 1946, Fleece Heafner and Harry Taylor, accompanied by two women, went to his place, ordered a meal and were served. After they finished, defendant Blackwell induced Heafner to engage in a game of poker. A dispute arose in which Heafner accused Jackson of passing a card to Blackwell. Heafner and Blackwell both grabbed the money in the pot. The evidence for the State tends to show that Blackwell struck Heafner, a scuffle ensued, and Blackwell and Jackson struck Heafner with blackjacks. After he was 'down and out' Jackson stomped him and Blackwell hit him with a 2 x 4. He was seriously injured. At the time, he had about $300 in his pockets which he missed when he 'came to.'

After Heafner became unconscious and was carried out, Taylor offered to pay what Heafner owed, and Jackson assaulted him with a blackjack.

Blackwell admits he struck Heafner but denies he used a blackjack or a 2x4. Jackson denies he used any weapon. He testified that when Blackwell and Heafner began to fight he grabbed Taylor and 'pushed them out.' After Jackson was arrested and released on bond he departed for Florida where he was later apprehended.

There was a verdict of guilty of an assault with a deadly weapon on each bill of indictment. The court pronounced judgment and defendants appealed.

J L. Hamme, of Gastonia, for appellant Jackson.

Ernest R. Warren and P. C. Froneberger, both of Gastonia, for appellant Blackwell.

Harry M. McMullan, Atty. Gen., and T. W. Bruton, Hughes J. Rhodes and Ralph M. Moody, Asst. Attys. Gen., for the State.

BARNHILL Justice.

The evidence in this case tends to disclose a brawl in a common fish camp dive, following a game of poker, in which Jackson assaulted both Heafner and Taylor with a blackjack, and Blackwell assaulted Heafner with a blackjack and a 2x4. As the defendants did not demur under G.S. s 15-173 it is concededly sufficient to sustain the charge.

There is no testimony in the record tending to show that Jackson fought in self-defense or in defense of his property or to quell a disturbance ...