State v. Keene
| Decision Date | 31 July 1872 |
| Parties | THE STATE OF MISSOURI, Respondent, v. THOMAS H. KEENE, Appellant. |
| Court | Missouri Supreme Court |
Appeal from Boone Circuit Court.
O. Guitar, for appellant.
I. The court erred in excluding the evidence of the threats. (State v. Sloan, 47 Mo. 604.)
II. The court erred in excluding the evidence of the witness, A. G. Burton, to the fact that the deceased was in the habit of carrying deadly weapons, and the further fact that he was a quarrelsome, dangerous and desperate man. (Monroe v. The State, 5 Ga. 85; The State v. Hicks, 27 Mo. 588.)
A. J. Baker, for respondent.
The defendant was indicted for killing one Evans, and on the trial the jury found him guilty of murder in the second degree, and assessed his punishment at sixteen years in the penitentiary.
It seems that the defendant had been on terms of amity and good-will with Evans till the day before the killing took place. On that day they met at the house of a friend, together with other company, when the defendant treated Evans with friendship and civility. But Evans had ascertained that the defendant was engaged to be married to a niece of his wife, and was greatly enraged about it, and, instead of returning the kind treatment of the defendant, he violently assaulted him with a pistol and knife, and swore that he would kill him, and that nothing but his blood would satisfy him. Through the intercession of friends he was kept from carrying out his purpose or hurting the defendant; but the defendant, in order to save himself from violence and death, was obliged to hide in another room, and finally make his escape from a back door. After this occurrence Evans renewed his threats; declared that he would make no compromise in reference to the matter; that he would kill defendant on sight, if it was the last act of his life. These threats were communicated to defendant the same evening.
It further appears that on the morning after the occurrence above referred to, and some two hours prior to the killing, the defendant, in company with another person, went out to hunt prairie chickens, and when they had reached a point near the railroad depot, and just after the defendant had discharged his gun at some chickens, Evans came out of the depot and halloed to the defendant, saying to him that he was “a d--d cowardly son of a b--h,” and that if he would come up there he would “thrash h--ll out of him,” and that he intended to kill him if he married his niece. The only answer defendant made to this abuse was to ask Evans what he wanted to kill him for; at the same time he told his companion that that would break up their hunt, and they immediately started home. On his arrival at home defendant went to his stable to put up his horse, and while he was still at his stable Evans, in company with two other persons, rode up. Evans went into a store across the street from the stable. Defendant wanted to go into the store and warm, for it was cold weather, but he was warned not to do so, as he would be in danger of his life if he met Evans. Defendant then stayed in the stable and sent friends to have an interview with Evans, for the purpose of trying to arrange the difficulty. He was willing to agree to almost anything, accept the most humiliating terms, and only desired that his life might be saved. But Evans was obdurate; he would abate nothing of his hatred and his desire for blood, and the life of defendant only would satisfy him. Evans then came out on the street, and was in fierce altercation with the persons around him, when the defendant fired the shot from which he afterwards died. The...
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State v. Keller
... ... the present" only. In the light of the condition here, ... that these threats continued down to the homicide, we do not ... think the evidence of threats and ill-will was inadmissible ... [ State v. Sloan, 47 Mo. 604; State v ... Keene, 50 Mo. 357; State v. Adams, 76 Mo. 355; ... State v. Grant, 79 Mo. 113; State v. Glahn, ... 97 Mo. 679, 11 S.W. 260; State v. Wright, 141 Mo ... 333, 42 S.W. 934; State v. Coleman, 186 Mo. 151, 84 ... S.W. 978; State v. Cummings, 189 Mo. 626, 88 S.W ... V ... ...
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The State v. Kennedy
...case. Proof of a threat against a defendant is always admissible. State v. Elkins, 63 Mo. 159; State v. Evans, 50 Mo. 574; State v. Keene, 50 Mo. 357; State v. 76 Mo. 355. The case of State v. Clum, 90 Mo. 482, and others following it are not applicable to the one at bar. And even in the li......
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State v. Feeley
...was refused by the trial court, and which this court ruled should have been given. While that case was followed in some respects in State v. Keene, 50 Mo. 357, the rule was not followed respecting the necessity of knowledge on the part of defendant of the general reputation of the deceased ......
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The State v. Colvin
... ... defendant to show what was Murphy's disposition as to ... being high-tempered, abusive and turbulent. The competency of ... such testimony has been established by a long line of cases ... in this State. State v. Hicks, 27 Mo. 588; State ... v. Keene, 50 Mo. 357; State v. Bryant, 55 Mo ... 75; State v. Feeley, 194 Mo. 300. (6) The court ... erred in giving instructions on the subject of murder in the ... second degree. The numerous and elaborate instructions on ... that subject led the jury to believe that in the mind of the ... ...