State v. Key
| Citation | 277 S.C. 214,284 S.E.2d 781 |
| Decision Date | 30 November 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 21607,21607 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of South Carolina |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Stewart H. KEY, Appellant. |
Wheeler M. Tillman and Richard J. Paul, Charleston Heights, for appellant.
Atty. Gen. Daniel R. McLeod and Asst. Attys. Gen. Lindy P. Funkhouser, Columbia, and Preston F. McDaniel, Florence, and Solicitor Capers G. Barr, III, Charleston, for respondent.
Defendant Stewart H. Key appeals his conviction of aggravated assault and battery arising from a shooting incident at his convenience store in Charleston County.
On June 27, 1980, Coca-Cola Company employees Clifford Williams (helper) and Sidney Dudley (in charge of truck) went to defendant's Shop and Save Curb Market to routinely reload the soft drink machine. Williams and the defendant exchanged some unfriendly words after Williams moved some produce baskets to make room for his handtruck. Williams proceeded to the drink machine and began inserting soft drinks, at which time a bullet from the defendant's .38 pistol struck him in the lower back of his leg above the ankle. Williams hobbled to a nearby gas station and later had the bullet removed from his foot at the hospital.
The defendant initially told the investigating policeman that some firecrackers had ignited. At trial, he admitted his gun had fired but contended that it discharged accidentally when he was attempting to pass between the opened Coke machine door and his grocery counter. He further suggested that the bullet had ricocheted off the concrete floor before striking Williams.
Dudley testified that the defendant first pointed his pistol at Williams' back, but then lowered it towards the floor and fired it. Dudley further testified that during his eight years delivery to the store, the defendant had threatened two or three times with a gun and actually drew it on one occasion. This evidence of prior misconduct, objected to by defendant, at trial and here, for irrelevancy and lack of similarity to the present charge, was properly admitted to show absence of mistake or accident as well as defendant's intent. State v. Lyle, 125 S.C. 406, 118 S.E. 803 (1923).
The trial judge also allowed the State to publish to the jury the medical report of the physician who treated Williams' wound. The medical report contained the following language:
Following admission, the patient was taken to the operating room and ... the wound of the entrance was debrided. The track of the...
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State v. Rice
...of subjective opinions or judgments within a business record. See McCaskill, 276 S.C. at 362, 278 S.E.2d at 773; State v. Key, 277 S.C. 214, 215, 284 S.E.2d 781, 783 (1981); State v. Patterson, 290 S.C. 523, 527-28, 351 S.E.2d 853, 855 (1986). The Federal Rules of Evidence do not contain th......
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State v. Fletcher
...Evidence of prior bad acts may be admissible to prove intent or absence of mistake or accident. See, e.g., State v. Key, 277 S.C. 214, 284 S.E.2d 781 (1981); State v. Turbeville, 275 S.C. 534, 273 S.E.2d 764 (1981). Further, prior bad acts evidence is admissible if necessary to establish a ......
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Crowley v. Spivey
...under the Act. Kershaw County Department of Social Services v. McCaskill, 276 S.C. 360, 278 S.E.2d 771 (1981); State v. Key, 277 S.C. 214, 284 S.E.2d 781 (1981). Although these portions of the records would have been properly excluded, we discern no prejudice to the Spiveys from their admis......
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State v. Patterson
...within the records. See Kershaw County Dept. of Social Services v. McCaskill, 276 S.C. 360, 278 S.E.2d 771 (1981); State v. Key, 277 S.C. 214, 284 S.E.2d 781 (1981). Patterson's failure to include the medical records in the transcript precludes a review of the trial judge's Patterson offere......