Ward v. State
| Decision Date | 15 May 1913 |
| Citation | 62 So. 703,182 Ala. 1 |
| Parties | WARD v. STATE. |
| Court | Alabama Supreme Court |
Rehearing Denied June 19, 1913
Appeal from Tuscaloosa County Court; Henry B. Foster, Judge.
Pharis Ward, alias, etc., was convicted, and appeals. Affirmed.
Collier Wright & Fite, of Tuscaloosa, for appellant.
R.C Brickell, Atty. Gen., and W.L. Martin, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Defendant (appellant) was adjudged guilty of murder in the first degree, and his punishment fixed at life imprisonment. The victim was Susie Kimbrel. She was killed by blows on the head. The instrument used was an "iron anglebar."
There were no eyewitnesses to the tragedy. The evidence pointing to defendant's guilt of the crime was circumstantial. Capable counsel, who appear for appellant, suggest and argue but one ruling of the trial court which they insist was prejudicial error. Other rulings adverse to appellant have been noted and considered, but none of these are found to be error.
The prosecution offered testimony tending to show that the deceased had about $23 on her person early in the night during which she was killed, and that appellant had the opportunity to know this fact. While it would seem that the purpose entertained by the prosecution in offering this evidence was to show a mercenary motive for the crime, we find no evidence in the transcript disclosing whether the money seen in deceased's possession the night before was found on or about the body when it was discovered the next morning. The record is silent in this particular.
With the evidence in this state defendant's counsel propounded this question on defendant's examination in chief "Had she given you money on previous occasions?" The court sustained an objection to the question, and excluded a premature affirmative answer thereto. This is the only ruling urged for error by counsel. It not having been shown that the sum mentioned was taken or had disappeared from the body of deceased, the quoted question sought entirely immaterial evidence.
It is not indispensable to a conviction in any criminal proceeding that the prosecution show a motive for the crime. Clifton v. State, 73 Ala. 478. And guilt may, of course, be established without the production of evidence pointing to a particular motive entertained by the accused.
If the money in possession of deceased early in the night of her death was not taken, there was other evidence before the...
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McKee v. State
...to its nature or character, and it avails nothing to the defense, that of it affirmative evidence is not adduced.' See also, Ward v. State, 182 Ala. 1, 62 So. 703; Stone v. State, 105 Ala. 60, 17 So. 114; Wingard v. State, 247 Ala. 488, 25 So.2d 170; Jones v. State, 13 Ala.App. 10, 68 So. 6......
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McKee v. State
... ... some cause or influence moving the mind. There is no room for ... speculation as to its nature or character, and it avails ... nothing to the defense, that of it affirmative evidence is ... not adduced.' ... See also, Ward ... v. State, 182 Ala. 1, 62 So. 703; Stone v ... State, 105 Ala. 60, 17 So. 114; Wingard v ... State, 247 Ala. 488, 25 So.2d 170; Jones v ... State, 13 Ala.App. 10, 68 So. 690; Mount v ... State, 32 Ala.App. 235, 24 So.2d 142 ... We do not think ... that the rather remote ... ...
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Moss v. State
... ... Proof of motive may lend valuable aid to the jury in ... determining the guilt of an accused and therefore is a ... material subject of inquiry, but it is not an indispensable ... element of proof for a conviction in a criminal proceeding ... Clifton v. State, 73 Ala. 473; Ward v ... State, 182 Ala. 1, 62 So. 703 ... We ... have not overlooked the familiar rule that a person charged ... with a felony should not be convicted on circumstantial ... evidence alone, unless it excludes to a moral certainty every ... reasonable hypothesis but that of his guilt; ... ...
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Murray v. State
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