Ward v. State

Decision Date07 September 1916
Docket Number4 Div. 397
Citation72 So. 754,15 Ala.App. 174
PartiesWARD v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals

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

Cliff Ward was convicted of crime, and he appeals. Affirmed.

R.P Coleman and E.H. Hill, both of Dothan, for appellant.

William L. Martin, Atty. Gen., and P.W. Turner, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

EVANS J.

It is within the sound discretion of the trial court to permit a witness, who was put under the rule, to testify Notwithstanding his disobedience and infraction of the rule in talking to others about the case; and such action of the trial court will not be revised upon appeal. Sanders v State, 105 Ala. 4, 16 So. 935; Hall v. State, 137 Ala. 44, 34 So. 680; Burks v. State, 120 Ala 386, 24 So. 931; Strickland v. State, 151 Ala. 31, 44 So. 90. Consequently, we do not review the exceptions reserved to the admission of witness George Armstrong to testify.

Counsel insists that the court erred in not permitting defendant to show that one Sherman Pittman, who was suspected and accused of having committed the crime for which defendant was on trial, had fled the country. We do not think this contention sound. It is always proper to prove the flight of the defendant, but not that of another not on trial. It is, of course, permissible for the defendant to show that another than himself committed the crime with which he is charged; but such proof is confined to substantive facts, and cannot include conduct or admissions, nor even confessions, unless they are a part of the res gestae. McGehee's Case, 171 Ala. 19, 23, 55 So. 159; Levison's Case, 54 Ala. 520; Kemp's Case, 89 Ala. 52, 7 So. 413; Owensby's Case, 82 Ala. 63, 2 So. 764; Pope's Case, 174 Ala. 63, 80, 57 So. 245; McDonald's Case, 165 Ala. 85, 89, 51 So. 629.

The court also properly refused to allow the witness Armstrong to testify that Sherman Pittman had been "accused" of the crime for which defendant was being tried. Brown's Case, 120 Ala. 342, 25 So. 182, and cases supra.

A single written request to charge was refused to appellant instructing that the "defendant cannot be convicted upon the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice." In view of the confession of defendant to Travis Mixon, corroborating the accomplice and the conversation of defendant with the witness Armstrong, the court properly refused this charge, as it ignored a part of the evidence and its tendency...

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7 cases
  • Griffin v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals
    • December 10, 1999
    ...facts, and cannot include conduct or admissions, nor even confessions, unless they are part of the res gestae." Ward v. State, 15 Ala.App. 174, 175, 72 So. 754 (1916)(emphasis added). See Erskine v. State, 21 Ala.App. 307, 107 So. 720 "`[T]he outcome of another's prosecution is simply irrel......
  • State v. Kijowski
    • United States
    • Court of Appeals of New Mexico
    • August 29, 1973
    ...other than the attorneys is within the trial court's discretion. Easley v. United States, 261 F.2d 276 (5th Cir. 1958); Ward v. State, 15 Ala.App. 174, 72 So. 754 (1916); Bulliner et al v. People, 95 Ill. 394 (1880); State v. Kelly, 237 La. 991, 112 So.2d 687 (1959); Woolridge v. State, 93 ......
  • Wells v. State
    • United States
    • Alabama Court of Appeals
    • January 12, 1926
    ... ... and to show motive on that other's part to commit the ... offense." ... See ... Tatum v. State, 131 Ala. 32, 31 So. 369; Walker ... v. State, 139 Ala. 56-66, 35 So. 1011; Lindsey v ... State, 18 Ala.App. 494, 93 So. 331; Ward v ... State, 15 Ala.App. 174, 72 So. 754 ... The ... instant case is not one of circumstantial evidence. The proof ... of the crime by the state's witness and the identity of ... defendant is positive, and hence the cases of Grissett v ... State, 18 Ala.App. 677, 94 So. 271, and ... ...
  • Deloach v. State
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • June 4, 1928
    ...or threat, or admissions, or confessions of such other person cannot be proven. Fields et al. v. U.S. 221 F. 242, 59 L.Ed. 1501; Ward v. State (Ala.), 72 So. 754; Toles State (Ala.), 54 So. 511. The case of Haywood v. State, 90 Miss. 461, is not in point. That case held that where accused h......
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