State v. Jackson
| Decision Date | 05 December 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 23140,23140 |
| Citation | 389 S.E.2d 650,301 S.C. 41 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Betty Ruth JACKSON, Appellant. . Heard |
Chief Atty. David I. Bruck, of S.C. Office of Appellate Defense, Columbia, and William I. Diggs, North Myrtle Beach, for appellant.
Attorney Gen. T. Travis Medlock, Asst. Attys. Gen. Harold M. Coombs, Jr., and Amie L. Clifford, Columbia, and Sol. Joseph J. Watson, Greenville, for respondent.
Betty Ruth Jackson was convicted of the murder of her husband, Harvey Jackson. She received a sentence of life imprisonment. On appeal, she contends that the trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury to resolve a reasonable doubt between murder and manslaughter in favor of manslaughter. We agree and therefore reverse and remand for a new trial.
The State's evidence showed that Jackson and her husband were legally separated in April 1987 ending an 18 year marriage. During the first several months of the separation, Mr. Jackson lived in a barber shop located in front of the Jackson residence. After he obtained legal custody of their sixteen year old daughter, Mr. Jackson and Christie moved into an apartment in August 1987, approximately one week before his death.
On August 17, 1987, Mr. Jackson apparently worked all day at the barber shop where he was employed. A coemployee testified that Mrs. Jackson called four or five times that day and sounded very angry. Mr. Jackson left work around 6:15 p.m. and arrived at the apartment at approximately 6:30 p.m. He dropped Christie off at her godparents' house and told her he was going to see what her mother wanted and would return soon. Christie's friend dropped her off at her mother's house approximately 10 to 20 minutes later. Police cars were already on the scene.
At approximately 7:00 p.m., the Greenville County Sheriff's Department received a call from Mrs. Jackson indicating that a person had been shot. When the officer arrived, he found Mr. Jackson lying face down in a pool of blood right inside the front screen door. Mrs. Jackson was sitting in a chair beside the phone smoking a cigarette. A shotgun with a spent shell casing was found in the house.
The autopsy revealed that Mr. Jackson died from three gunshot wounds. He received one wound to the chest and two in the back of the head. The head wounds were received from shots fired from less than ten feet away.
Mrs. Jackson testified that she did not ask Mr. Jackson to come to see her. She stated that he had cancelled the insurance on her car and she was upset because she had totalled her car the previous week. Jackson said she called her husband twice on August 17 to discuss the cancellation of the insurance. She stated that she thought he was going to call her after work.
Jackson testified that she had the shotgun sitting on the floor next to her because she carried the gun around for protection. When Mr. Jackson came through the door, Mrs. Jackson testified that he reached toward his pocket and said "I come to kill you, bitch." Mrs. Jackson remembers firing one shot, but does not remember firing the two shots in the back of his head.
Jackson argues that the trial judge erred when he refused to charge the jury that if they had a reasonable doubt between murder and manslaughter they had to resolve it in favor of the lesser offense. We agree.
The judge instructed the jury on their duty, the presumption of innocence, reasonable doubt, the offenses of murder and voluntary manslaughter and self defense. The trial judge denied defense counsel's request for the charge that the jury must find manslaughter if they had a reasonable doubt between...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Brightman v. State
...(1992); State v. Robinson, 307 S.C. 169, 414 S.E.2d 142 (1992); Carter v. State, 301 S.C. 396, 392 S.E.2d 184 (1990); State v. Jackson, 301 S.C. 41, 389 S.E.2d 650 (1990); State v. Patrick, 289 S.C. 301, 345 S.E.2d 481 (1986); State v. McLaughlin, 208 S.C. 462, 38 S.E.2d 492 (1946). See als......
-
Carter v. State
...resolve that doubt in his favor, and find him guilty of the lesser offense." 158 S.C. at 297, 155 S.E. at 426. See, also, State v. Jackson, 389 S.E.2d 650 (S.C.1990). As both crimes were submitted to the jury, counsel was ineffective in failing to request the King REVERSED AND REMANDED. GRE......
-
State v. Rogers
...constituted a legal provocation sufficient to produce sudden heat of passion. Id. at ----, 434 S.E.2d at 274. In State v. Jackson, 301 S.C. 41, 389 S.E.2d 650 (1990), voluntary manslaughter was properly charged where there was evidence that the decedent approached the defendant, reached int......
-
State v. McCall, 1650
...in the King charge and the charge made. And our Supreme Court has held that the difference is one of substance. See State v. Jackson, 301 S.C. 41, 389 S.E.2d 650 (1990). The jury in this case indicated they had a doubt as to whether McCall was guilty of The trial judge in his charge to the ......