Tarver v. State

• Decision Date: 04 June 1903
• Citation: 34 So. 627,137 Ala. 29
• Parties: TARVER v. STATE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

34 So. 627

137 Ala. 29

TARVER v. STATE.

Supreme Court of Alabama

June 4, 1903

Appeal from City Court of Montgomery; William H. Thomas, Judge.

Jordan Tarver was convicted of murder, and appeals. Affirmed.

The bill of exceptions contains the following recital as to the rulings of the court in the organization of the jury "The name of S. S. Higgins, a special juror summoned to try this cause, was called, and he failed to answer. The court stated that said Higgins had informed the court that he was a deputy United States marshal, and had asked to be excused. The defendant insisted that said Higgins should be put on his voir dire, and excepted to the action of the court in declining to put said Higgins on his voir dire. Thereupon defendant excepted to this action of the court. The court then ordered that a forfeiture be entered against Higgins." On the trial there was evidence tending to show that, before the finding of the indictment, the defendant, in Montgomery county, shot and killed Ann Tarver with a pistol, and that the deceased was the wife of the defendant. Two witnesses introduced on behalf of the state testified that, a short time after the deceased received the wound which resulted in her death, they went in the room where the deceased was lying on a bed; that, in the presence and hearing of said witnesses, she stated that she knew she was dying, and that she had been shot by her husband, the defendant, in a quarrel they were engaged in about another man; and that a short time after making this statement the deceased died from the effects of the pistol wound which she received. The evidence for the state further tended to show that the deceased and the defendant quarreled about another man, and the defendant became very angry and struck the deceased, and thereupon the deceased grabbed a table fork and stuck him in the arm or shoulder with the fork, and the defendant then shot her. The father and mother of the defendant and another witness testified on the part of the defendant that they were with the deceased at all times after the shooting, when the two state witnesses were in the room that the deceased did not state that she was dying, but stated that the shooting was accidental, and happened while she and the defendant were playing with the pistol. There was further testimony tending to show that immediately before and at the time of the shooting the deceased had stabbed the defendant with a fork, and that marks had been found on the defendant's arm and shoulder, which appeared to be wounds from a fork. There was evidence introduced on the part of the defendant tending to show that he had borne a good character as a peaceable man in the neighborhood in which he lived that the deceased and he had been married only about a year before the shooting, and their relations had been of a pleasant and loving character. The defendant requested the court to give to the...