State v. Spivey
Decision Date | 07 May 1930 |
Docket Number | 91. |
Citation | 153 S.E. 255,198 N.C. 655 |
Parties | STATE v. SPIVEY. |
Court | North Carolina Supreme Court |
Appeal from Superior Court, Lee County; Barnhill, Judge.
James Spivey was convicted of murder in the first degree, and he appeals.
No error.
Criminal prosecution tried upon an indictment charging the prisoner with the murder of one Bettie Spivey.
The evidence on behalf of the state tends to show that on the night of September 21, 1929, Bettie Spivey was struck on the back of the head with an ax, or some blunt instrument, and died shortly thereafter from the effects of the blow.
The deceased and her sister, Josie Spivey, were entertaining two young men, Willie Morgan and the defendant, James Spivey, on the night in question at the home of their father, who is a tenant farmer living in Lee county. Willie Morgan was calling on Josie Spivey, while the defendant was paying court to the deceased, and had previously proposed to marry her on condition that she surrender her person to him prior to the marriage, but which condition she had declined to meet. The other members of the Spivey family, Silas, the father, and Lillian, a third daughter, had retired for the night, leaving these four young people together in the same room. At about eleven o'clock Bettie Spivey left the room and soon returned with a pair of silk hose, which she showed to the others, and teasingly told James Spivey that they had been given to her by another fellow. When she went to get the stockings, she thought she observed some one in the yard, walk past the window, and reported this fact upon her return. The defendant remarked that perhaps it was an officer looking for him. He also claimed to have seen some one pass the window.
As there had been some recent cow stealing in the neighborhood Bettie Spivey suggested to the defendant that they go out to the barn, which was 30 or 40 yards from the house, to see if her father's cow had been, or was being, molested by any one. For this purpose she went out of the house, and the defendant followed her, closing the door behind him. About eight or ten feet to the right of the path, going to the barn, was a cedar tree, against which an ax was leaning which had been left there by one of the girls that afternoon or evening.
Fifteen or twenty minutes after Bettie and James Spivey left the house, the defendant returned, opened the door, and said that some one had knocked Bettie down. Josie hurriedly aroused her father and sister, Lillian, and rushed out to the cow barn. There she found Bettie lying upon her back, with her head stricken, and bleeding profusely. Her clothes were up above her knees and her legs far apart. James Spivey stated that he stopped at the cedar tree while Bettie went on to the barn lot. He said he heard a lick, "ker-bam-like," looked up and saw two men running off in the direction of L V. Hale's house, and that there was no time for Bettie to have been criminally assaulted.
Willie Morgan did not go to the barn or stay to ascertain the extent of Bettie's injuries, but left for his home as soon as the defendant announced that she had been hurt. He said he left precipitately because he was afraid to stay. The defendant, on the other hand, remained to render any assistance he could, and did help to carry the deceased in the house, went for the doctor, and called the officers.
Within a couple of hours, the sheriff and two assistants, as well as the coroner of the county, Dr. J. F. Foster, had arrived at the Spivey home. An investigation and examination showed that the deceased had been raped and hit on the back of the head with some blunt instrument, from which she died almost instantly. There were no bruises on her face or neck. The small ax, which had been left leaning against the cedar tree, could not be found that night, but it was discovered the next morning some distance away, with blood spots on it, apparently having been thrown through a break in the hedge, for when it fell upon the ground it slid about one-half the length of its helve. No tracks were to be found along or about the place where the defendant said he saw two men running. An examination by the coroner of the person of the defendant that night indicated unmistakably that he was the one who committed the rape.
The defendant offered no evidence, but lodged a motion at the close of the state's case for judgment as of nonsuit under C. S. § 4643. (Overruled and exception.)
Verdict: Guilty of murder in the first degree.
Judgment: Death by electrocution.
The prisoner appeals, assigning errors.
Gavin, Teague & Byerly and H. M. Jackson, all of Sanford, for appellant.
D. G. Brummitt, Atty. Gen., and Frank Nash, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
STACY, C.J. (after stating the case).
The evidence is amply sufficient to carry the case to the...
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