Stovall v. State
| Citation | 163 So. 504,173 Miss. 755 |
| Decision Date | 07 October 1935 |
| Docket Number | 31707 |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court of Mississippi |
| Parties | STOVALL v. STATE |
1. DISTURBANCE OF PUBLIC ASSEMRLAGE.
Abusive and obscene language addressed to deacon of church while in act of taking up collection just outside of church would constitute disturbance of member of congregation (Code 1930 section 864).
2. DISTURBANCE OF PUBLIC ASSEMBLAGE.
Disturbance of single member of congregation assembled for religious worship is in contemplation of law disturbance of congregation (Code 1930, section 864).
3. OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE.
In prosecution for obstructing justice by assisting in escape of one being arrested for disturbance of church congregation whether party who escaped was creating disturbance which warranted his arrest and thus made assisting his escape an obstruction to justice held for jury (Code 1930, section 864).
4. OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE.
In prosecution for obstructing justice, whether accused assisted party who was allegedly creating disturbance to escape from officer making arrest held for jury (Code 1930, section 864).
APPEAL from circuit court of Walthall County HON. J. F. GUYNES, Judge.
Willie Stovall was convicted of obstructing justice, and he appeals. Judgment affirmed.
Affirmed.
E. B. Patterson and G. Wood Magee, both of Monticello, for appellant.
So far as this record is concerned, there was no proof before the trial court and no, proof before this court showing that anyone was disturbed in his or her religious worship. If this is true, then the arrest of Jonah Stovall or the attempted arrest was unlawful, and Jonah Stovall, or any one interested, had the right to resist this unlawful arrest.
Miers v. State, 53 Am. St. Rep. 705; State v. Evans, 84 Am. St. Rep. 699; 2 R. C. L., p. 474, sec. 32; Leetow v. U. S. F. & G. Co., 120 Miss. 763; Butler v. State, 135 Miss. 885; Merritt v. State, 5 So. 386; Harris v. City of Tuscaloosa, 109 So. 768; Deaton v. State, 102 So. 175; Cantwell v. State, 77 So. 960; Page v. State, 133 So. 216.
Any man arrested, or who is about to be arrested unlawfully has the right to resist that unlawful arrest, and he has the right to use such force in making resistance as is used on him in the attempt to make the unlawful arrest.
W. D. Conn, Jr., Assistant Attorney-General, for the state.
It appears to the writer hereof that the circumstances under which the constable arrested Jonah Stovall are such as to show that he was committing a misdemeanor in the presence of the arresting officer and it was such as to justify a charge of disturbing public worship.
Viewing all of the circumstances surrounding the arrest of Jonah Stovall, the constable not only had the right, but it was his duty to arrest him and anyone who undertook to resist him in his arrest of Jonah could be prosecuted for obstructing justice.
This is an appeal from the circuit court of Walthall county wherein, on appeal from a justice of the peace court, appellant, Willie Stovall, was tried and convicted on an affidavit charging him with obstructing justice, and sentenced to pay a fine and serve a term in jail.
The affidavit, as amended, charged the appellant with a violation of section 1061, Code 1930--assisting in the rescue and escape of Jonah Stovall from the custom of the constable of the beat in which a crime was alleged to have been committed. The constable had arrested Jonah Stovall without a warrant for disturbing public worship of a congregation of a Holiness Church called Galilee.
1. The appellant urges as ground for reversal that the arrest without a warrant of Jonah Stovall was unlawful, and in order to sustain the charge of obstructing justice it is necessary for the state to show that the accused resisted, or impeded, an officer in the discharge of his duty, and that the prisoner arrested had committed an offense in his presence for which the officer had the right to arrest him without a warrant.
There was ample evidence authorizing the jury to find that the appellant actively assisted others in rescuing Jonah Stovall from the custody of the officer, and that Jonah did escape by seizing the pistol of the officer and running away from the place where he was under arrest, accompanied by the appellant and others. Merritt v. State (Miss.), 5 So. 386.
There is no question but that there was a congregation assembled in this church for religious worship. Early in the morning Jonah Stovall was warned by the officer to behave himself--that he was acting like he was drunk. In the afternoon, while collection was being taken up in the building, one of the deacons of the church came out on the grounds where there were a number of people, both white and colored, who were not shown to be engaged in divine worship and solicited a collection from Jonah Stovall, whereupon Jonah said to the deacon; Immediately thereafter he was...
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...403 have been applied in other states to patently trivial violations of meeting rules and practices. (See, e.g., Stovall v. State (1935) 173 Miss. 755, 163 So. 504 (swearing at a single member of congregation outside church and not heard by others attending services); Nichols v. State (1897......