State v. McElveen
| Decision Date | 23 January 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 22051,22051 |
| Citation | 280 S.C. 325,313 S.E.2d 298 |
| Court | South Carolina Supreme Court |
| Parties | The STATE, Respondent, v. Tommy McELVEEN, Appellant. . Heard |
John C. Lindsay, Sr., Bennettsville; Hugh L. Cannon, Hartsville; Robert L. Kilgo, Sr., Darlington; and S.C. Commission of Appellate Defense, Columbia, for appellant.
Atty. Gen. T. Travis Medlock, Asst. Atty. Gen. Harold M. Coombs, Jr., and Staff Atty. Carlisle Roberts, Jr., Columbia; and Sol. J. Dupre Miller, Bennettsville, for respondent.
Appellant was indicted for the murder of Mrs. Peggy Byrd, the wife of a business associate; and appeals from his conviction of voluntary manslaughter and sentence to imprisonment for twenty-one (21) years. He charges prejudicial trial error (1) in the improper admission of character evidence and (2) in the alleged erroneous instructions to the jury relative to the law of trespass. We reverse and remand for a new trial.
Appellant was charged with killing Mrs. Byrd at the Byrd home on a night in March 1981. The undisputed facts are that the victim was fatally shot as she stood at the door of her home while appellant and her husband (Byrd) fought in the yard. The weapon was a rifle which no one in the case acknowledges having owned. Byrd claims that he never saw the gun until the night of the incident. His version is that he came home to find appellant, armed and waiting for him. Appellant contends that he arrived at the scene unarmed, hoping to discuss business matters, but that Byrd pulled the weapon from his car and a struggle ensued during which the weapon discharged, killing the victim. Appellant denied he owned the rifle, and offered witnesses who testified they had seen the weapon in Byrd's office.
The jury evidently accepted Byrd's version of the incident and concluded that appellant shot the victim, intending to shoot Byrd.
The first question concerns the alleged improper admission of character evidence. The ownership of the rifle was a very material issue in the trial. Appellant's wife testified she and appellant had lived together continuously and she had never seen him with a rifle. Her pertinent testimony was as follows:
Q. ... Mrs. McElveen, during the time that you have known Tommy [appellant] and the time that you have been married to him, have you lived together steadily from the time of your marriage to today?
A. Yes, sir, we've never been parted.
Q. Have you ever known him to own a rifle of any kind?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever seen him with a rifle?
A. No, sir.
Q. Have you ever heard him say anything about using a rifle?
A. No, sir.
Subsequently, appellant's son was asked on cross-examination if his father, the appellant, had an affair with one Linda Sams. Counsel for appellant objected to the testimony, but the trial judge ruled that the previous testimony by the wife of continuous cohabitation with the appellant had placed appellant's character (as a loving and faithful husband) in issue. This ruling was in error.
The testimony of appellant's wife, that they had continuously lived together and had never seen the rifle in question, sought only to establish that he had never owned a rifle. The wife's testimony concerning the ownership of the weapon was made credible through her statement that they had always lived together. Testimony that appellant had an affair with another woman was totally irrelevant to the issue of the ownership of...
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State v. Needs, 24856.
...to admit or exclude evidence unless the trial judge abused his discretion and petitioner demonstrates prejudice); State v. McElveen, 280 S.C. 325, 313 S.E.2d 298 (1984) 5. JURY INSTRUCTIONS In instructing the jury on circumstantial evidence, the trial judge stated: The law also requires .........
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State v. Nelson
...more general rule against attacking a defendant's character. See, e.g., Mitchell, 298 S.C. at 186, 379 S.E.2d at 123; State v. McElveen, 280 S.C. 325, 313 S.E.2d 298 (1984). Because we find the evidence would be inadmissible under either standard, the issue of whether this is evidence of a ......
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State v. Bell
...Court to reverse a case based on erroneous admission or exclusion of evidence, error and prejudice must be shown. State v. McElveen, 280 S.C. 325, 313 S.E.2d 298 (1984). In State v. Lyle, 125 S.C. 406, 118 S.E. 803 (1923), we articulated the exceptions to the general rule that evidence of o......
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State v. Joseph
...is upon the appellant to satisfy this court that there was prejudicial error in the admission of the testimony. State v. McElveen, 280 S.C. 325, 313 S.E.2d 298 (1984). In order to constitute reversible error, the reviewing court must be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for suppos......