Watkins v. Commonwealth
| Decision Date | 25 May 1928 |
| Parties | WATKINS et al. v. COMMONWEALTH. |
| Court | Kentucky Court of Appeals |
Rehearing Denied Jan. 25, 1929.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Logan County.
Bradley Watkins and Warner Hunton were convicted of manslaughter, and they appeal. Affirmed as to defendant Watkins, and reversed as to defendant Hunton.
G Duncan Milliken, of Bowling Green, for appellants.
J. W Cammack, Atty. Gen., and S. H. Brown, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the Commonwealth.
On October 17, 1924, some one slew Volney Harrison. Bradley Watkins and Warner Hunton were charged by indictment with his murder, and now are asking for the reversal of a judgment imposing upon each of them three years' imprisonment for manslaughter.
In October, 1924, Volney Harrison was living in Butler county Ky. A protracted meeting was being held at Cave Spring Church in Logan county, about eight miles from Harrison's home, but it appears that Harrison was attending these meetings, at least, he was among those present, though it does not appear that he went inside the church. It is about 60 feet from this church to the fence in front of it. There are two doors to the church. As you approach the church, the door on the right is referred to as the men's door; the door on the left is referred to as the women's door. The gate in the fence is in front of the women's door. About half way between the gate and the women's door, there is a sugar maple. There is a path leading from the gate to the church, which passes to the right of the tree as you face the church, and which leads to the women's door. There seems to be another path that leads off from this one to the men's door, but this does not appear to be as well defined as the path leading to the women's door. This meeting was well attended, the church appears to have been comfortably full, and there were about as many on the outside as on the inside.
The first account we get of Harrison in the evidence was that on Sunday night, October 12, he was there, and seemed to be drinking. He was near the sugar tree, and was in a quarrel with some young man. Harrison was swearing, and they were quarreling-something about paying for a drink. The fellow said to Harrison, "I am not going to fight you; you have knucks on." The next time we hear of him was on the night of Thursday, the 16th. Fifteen or twenty men were in a crowd outside of the church, and Harrison was in the crowd, cursing and swearing. He said he had a wife and baby dead and in hell, and he had as soon go to hell from Cave Spring Church as anywhere else.
No witness to this time had connected either Bradley Watkins or Warner Hunton with Harrison. On Thursday, the 16th, Bradley Watkins had T. J. McConnell, a jeweler and gunsmith, make some repairs on a Smith & Wesson .32 pistol and remarked at the time that it was an old gun that "another party" had sent by him for adjustment. McConnell repaired the pistol, and put upon it his initials and the date that he made the repair. McConnell fired the pistol once to see if it was in working order.
John T. Procter sold Bradley Watkins 50 cents worth of .32 short cartridges some time between Sunday and Friday of that week. George Corbin attended the meeting on Friday night. He saw Bradley Watkins and Warner Hunton at the door steps, and said to them, "Boys, let's go in the house." Bradley Watkins said, ""All right." Warner Hunton said, "No; he may come after while." Those two did not go in. They must have been waiting for some one, for the services had begun, and the second hymn was being sung. Lloyd Thomas came to church with Harrison that night. They arrived at 7:30, and at first went to the side of the church, and were looking in the window. Thomas was not acquainted with the defendants. Later, Thomas was under this sugar tree. A group of men was between him and Harrison. He says the flash came between this crowd and the first fight. Another witness who came to church with Harrison says they first went to the window; that, when he left the window, he came to this sugar tree where Harrison was quarreling with Warner Hunton. This witness fixes the time of this trouble at 8 o'clock. Thus it would appear that Harrison was shot about 30 minutes after he got to the church. This witness says the fist fight lasted for one or two minutes after the shooting. Lois Corbin saw the defendants in the churchyard just before the trouble came up. Verner Bobbitt says the defendants were near this path when the fist fight began, and a few steps from the gate. McGowan says they were close by, and that, after the shooting, they separated him and Sam Hunton. Verner Bobbitt testified he was standing talking to Volney Harrison near the sugar tree, and Warner Hunton came up and said to Harrison: ""I understand you are going to run me out." Harrison replied, "Don't put your hand on me, and I don't mean maybe." Harrison was cursing and swearing.
There is some conflict in the evidence as to whether Warner Hunton went into the church and called out his father, Sam Hunton, one of the deacons, or whether Sam Hunton came out because he was attracted by the offensive language. Anyway, Sam Hunton came out, and, approaching Harrison, said to him, Harrison said, "I am not swearing any more than anybody else." Sam Hunton said to him, " Harrison said, Sam Hunton said to Harrison, "Do you accuse these boys of cutting up your automobile?" Harrison replied, "They were in the bunch, and whoever cut up my automobile is a son of a bitch." Sam Hunton insisted that Harrison either behave himself or leave the premises, and Harrison left, again inviting Hunton to follow him out into the road or into the woods. During the progress of this quarrel, Bradley Watkins was present, and he remarked, "I had as soon follow lead to-night as any time."
Gene McGowan, who was standing near, taunted Sam Hunton for not accepting Harrison's challenge, and said to Sam: Sam Hunton replied, "If you are going to take up for him, you get off the yard." McGowan said, "I am not going to leave." About that time Gene McGowan and Sam Hunton got into a fight. It was an old-fashioned fist fight, up and down, first Gene up and then Sam, then Gene down and then Sam. This fist fight soon drifted over to the front of the men's door, and, when it closed, and the two participants were separated, they were directly in front of, and about ten feet from, the door, but it seems to have begun near this sugar tree. Watkins and Warner Hunton were present at the time of the trouble with Harrison and the outset of the quarrel between McGowan and Sam Hunton. While this fist fight was in progress, Harrison, who had got near the gate, called back to McGowan, ""Wait, Gene, till I get there," and started toward the fist fight. About that time a shot was fired, and Harrison fell about three feet to the right of this path. He was almost midways between the fence and the church; perhaps a little nearer the fence. He was about ten or twelve feet from where the fist fight closed and the parties were separated. No one knows who fired this shot, but there is evidence from one witness that it came from this bunch, and, when the witness was asked, "What bunch?" he said, "From the bunch Bradley Watkins, Gene McGowan, and Hunton, it came from them." In one or two minutes after the shot was fired, Bradley Watkins and Warner Hunton separated McGowan and Sam Hunton, and the two made friends.
There were 30 or 40 people, perhaps more, outside the church and around and in the neighborhood of this fight and this shooting. No one seemed to know who did the shooting. This fatal shot was fired from between the sugar tree and the path. The defendants were there. They did not testify. It seems to be agreed that the fatal shot came from near the sugar tree. The ball passed through the edge of a cap that Harrison was wearing and entered his left temple. The cap was powder burned. Harrison died about 11 o'clock without regaining consciousness. The sheriff sent to the home of Watkins, and got out of a bureau drawer the pistol that McConnell had repaired. There were four loaded shells in it and one empty shell. Four of the shells were cankered, and one shell was bright and fresh. The evidence does not disclose whether this bright shell was a loaded or an empty shell. Immediately after this shooting, the crowd scattered in all directions. Many went into the church. Among those were Bradley Watkins and Warner Hunton. In a few minutes some came out and endeavored to render aid to the wounded man. Directly after the shot was fired, a horse came out of the bushes and ran rapidly in the direction of Richelieu. Whether or not a rider was on this horse is not known. Watkins had gone home before the sheriff went to his home and got this pistol. Some of the witnesses who examined the pistol, and who gave some evidence of being experts, testified it had been recently fired, while others who gave equal evidence of experience testified that from their examination of the gun they were convinced that it had not been fired for some time, because they were able to get red rust out of the barrel, but the correctness of their conclusion is overcome by the positive statement of...
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