Turner v. State

Decision Date22 June 1920
Docket Number4 Div. 600
Citation85 So. 849,17 Ala.App. 514
PartiesTURNER v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals

Appeal from Circuit Court, Houston County; H.A. Pearce, Judge.

Fannie Turner was convicted of manslaughter, and she appeals. Affirmed.

Lee &amp Tompkins, of Dothan, for appellant.

J.Q Smith, Atty. Gen., for the State.

MERRITT J.

The appellant was indicted for the murder of Hattie Parker, and was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree; her punishment being fixed at two years in the penitentiary.

Charge 3, as written, was subject to criticism as having a tendency to mislead the jury. Aside from this, it was unquestionably misleading, in view of the particular circumstances incident to this case. It was agreed in open court that the state would not insist upon a conviction for a higher degree of homicide than murder in the second degree. The conviction was for manslaughter in the first degree. In the light of this the charge would have been confusing to the jury.

Charge 6 is not clearly expressed, as appears from the concluding words, "even unto the death of the defendant." Moreover, the charge is substantially covered by given written charge 2.

Nelse Parker testified that about dark, on the day of the homicide, he saw the defendant, who inquired whether Hattie Parker (deceased) was up on the hill. Witness was asked what the defendant had at that time. He answered that she was eating an orange with a pocketknife. The court properly admitted this evidence. It might tend to show preparation for the crime, and for this purpose, if no other, was admissible. Rollings v. State, 160 Ala. 85, 49 So. 329; Underhill, Crim.Ev. p. 375; Finch v. State, 81 Ala. 49, 1 So. 565.

The witness Emmet Brown reached deceased immediately after the difficulty, while she was still on the ground. Deceased went to Sallie Espy's house, but "stayed there no time; she just whirled and came away, and went to Jane Sander's house." In response to a question as to how deceased acted after she left witness, he was permitted to state: "She left just like crazy like. She just went staggering like, and ran across to the house, and then went to Jane Sander's house." The defendant had gone to Jane Sander's house.

Assuming that the testimony was irrelevant and incompetent, its admission was without injury to the defendant. There was ample evidence before the jury, at the time, deceased was suffering from mortal wounds inflicted by a knife in the hands of defendant. Evidence that deceased was not normal, or that she was staggering, added nothing to the facts which were before the jury without objection.

The same witness Brown was present when deceased reached Jane Sander's house. He was asked: "What did she (deceased) say to Fannie, if anything?" He answered: "She said: 'You are so bloodthirsty, you ran up behind me and stabbed me; come out'--and that defendant replied: 'I am not coming out.' " This testimony was admitted over defendant's objection.

The silence of the accused, in the face of a pertinent accusation of crime, partakes of the nature of a confession. It is admissible as a circumstance tending to show guilt. Its admissibility is predicated on the...

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6 cases
  • State v. Erwin
    • United States
    • Utah Supreme Court
    • December 11, 1941
    ... ... the relation of this conversation was admissible. It has also ... been repeatedly held that where the defendant gives an ... evasive or unresponsive reply to an accusation, when not ... amounting to a denial is admissible as tantamount to silence ... Turner v. State , 17 Ala.App. 514, 85 So ... 849; People v. Swaile , 12 Cal.App. 192, 107 ... P. 134; People v. Wilson , 61 Cal.App. 611, ... 215 P. 565; Kingsbury v. People , 44 Colo ... 403, 99 P. 61; State v. Kidd , 24 N.M. 572, ... 175 P. 772 ... Thus ... if, under the ... ...
  • Moulton v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Appeals
    • August 28, 1923
    ...prior thereto, leading up to and explanatory of the tragedy. Henderson v. State, 15 Ala. App. 1, 72 So. 590; Jones v. State, supra; Turner v. State, supra. It competent for the state to show by J. J. Kendrick, the father of the deceased, that as a part of and leading up to the fatal difficu......
  • Carr v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Appeals
    • March 16, 1926
    ... ... prohibited liquors," etc ... What ... was said by the defendant at the time of his arrest, at the ... scene, and upon the occasion, of the alleged crime, was ... admissible as a part of the res gestae. Barfield et al ... v. State, 97 So. 378, 19 Ala.App. 374; Turner v ... State, 85 So. 849, 17 Ala. App.514. True, these ... statements were in the nature of a confession or an admission ... of guilt, but this in no wise alters the propriety of their ... admission in evidence under the principle named, even though ... there had been first offered no ... ...
  • Kiel v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Appeals
    • June 30, 1938
    ... ... Such declarations to be admissible as res gestæ must be ... contemporaneous with the main fact, and so closely connected ... with it as to illustrate its character. Hardeman v ... State, 14 Ala.App. 35, 70 So. 979; Holyfield v ... State, 17 Ala.App. 162, 82 So. 652; Turner v ... State, 17 Ala.App. 514, 85 So. 849; Humber v ... State, 19 Ala.App. 451, 99 So. 68; Ex parte State ex ... rel. Attorney General, 210 Ala. 559, 99 So. 73; Roan v ... State, 225 Ala. 428, 143 So. 454. In the absence of ... testimony making the exclamation of Hattie Bumpers a part of ... ...
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