State v. Stallings

• Decision Date: 10 January 1905
• Citation: 38 So. 261,142 Ala. 112
• Parties: STATE v. STALLINGS.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

38 So. 261

142 Ala. 112

STATE v. STALLINGS.

Supreme Court of Alabama

January 10, 1905

Appeal from Chancery Court, Butler County; W. L. Parks, Chancellor.

Dan alias Daniel Stallings was indicted for murder in the first degree, and from a decree allowing him bail the state appeals. Affirmed.

The petition in habeas corpus was as follows: "Your petitioner, J. F. Stallings, most respectfully represents unto your honor that Dan alias Daniel Stallings, in whose behalf this application or petition is made, is illegally imprisoned and restrained of his liberty and held under guard in the Elk Hotel, in the city of Greenville, Alabama, by one J. H. Hartley, who is the sheriff in and for said county and state, by virtue of a warrant charging said Dan alias Daniel Stallings with murder in the first degree, said warrant issued by I. Y. Trawick, clerk of the circuit court in said county of Butler and state of Alabama, a copy of which said warrant is hereto attached, and marked 'Exhibit A,' and made a part of this petition, and with leave of reference thereto as often as may be necessary. And petitioner alleges that the said Dan alias Daniel Stallings was indicted by the grand jury of said county at the October term, 1904, a copy of which indictment is hereto attached, marked 'Exhibit B,' and made a part hereof, for the offense of murder in the first degree, and no bond has been set by any court, or application made therefor. And your petitioner further avers that the proof is not evident, or the presumption great, that the said Dan alias Daniel Stallings is guilty of a capital offense. Wherefore your petitioner prays for a writ of habeas corpus directed to the said J. H. Hartley, sheriff of Butler county, Alabama, commanding him to bring the body of the said Dan alias Daniel Stallings before your honor at a day and place to be by your honor appointed, together with the cause of detention of the said Dan alias Daniel Stallings." On the trial, under the writ which was issued by the court, the evidence showed that the defendant shot and killed Radford Buckhaults on or about October 1, 1904, at Greenville, Ala and was at the same time himself wounded, being shot in the left side. The evidence for the defense showed that the deceased was in a bar room on the evening of the killing, and when the defendant walked in the deceased insulted him; that defendant said nothing, but soon left, and about 7 o'clock was passing up the sidewalk, and the deceased was sitting in a buggy near the sidewalk, and cursed the defendant again, applying an opprobrious epithet to him. The defendant thereupon...