Yessick v. State
| Citation | 149 So.2d 818,274 Ala. 488 |
| Decision Date | 26 July 1962 |
| Docket Number | 7 Div. 541 |
| Parties | Edward YESSICK, Jr. v. STATE of Alabama. |
| Court | Supreme Court of Alabama |
McKay & Livingston, Sylacauga, and Rogers, Howard, Redden & Mills, Birmingham, for appellant.
MacDonald Gallion, Atty. Gen., and John C. Tyson, III, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Appellant was indicted for murder in the first degree growing out of the killing of Vester Lee Taylor, Jr., by cutting or stabbing him with a knife. Appellant entered pleas of not guilty, not guilty by reason of self-defense, not guilty by reason of insanity, and not guilty by reason of temporary insanity. The jury returned a verdict of murder in the second degree and fixed appellant's punishment at imprisonment for thirty years. His motion for a new trial was overruled.
The defendant was the owner of a restaurant just outside of Sylacauga, in Talladega County, where the fatal occurrence between him and the deceased took place. Apparently, no one witnessed the entire affair, although there were witnesses who testified they saw the defendant stab the deceased. In fact, the defendant testified that he stabbed him, but did so in self-defense after seeing the deceased coming towards him with a knife. When the officers arrived at the scene the deceased was found lying behind the counter in the restaurant, having sustained multiple stab wounds. A bloody steak knife was found on the premises and identified as the weapon used. The defendant was apprehended at the scene and was covered with blood and showed evidence of having been in a struggle. He had a laceration type wound on one of his hands.
The evidence for the defendant shows that there had been some prior difficulty between him and the deceased and that the defendant had had the deceased arrested for misconduct in his place of business. There was also other evidence of threats made by the deceased against the defendant.
The defendant took the stand and was the only witness to testify about the entire altercation. He testified that it began when the deceased sneaked up behind him while he was behind the restaurant counter and attempted to stab him with a steak knife; that someone yelled to him and he turned around and saw the deceased with the knife in a position ready to strike him; that they struggled for the knife and a considerable fight followed; that all of this took place behind the counter; that at the end of the struggle he was on top of the deceased and had the knife; and that he was not sure about the exact events that transpired during the struggle.
The defendant also offered testimony of his good character.
Appellant charges the trial court with error in the following respects:
1. In allowing the state's witness, Dr. John Rayfield, to testify about the condition of a body, without prior testimony identifying the body as being that of Vester Lee Taylor, Jr.
2. In allowing Dr. Rayfield to testify to the cause of death when at the time no testimony was in evidence identifying the body about which the witness was testifying.
3. In sustaining the state's objection to the following question propounded by the defendant on his cross-examination of the state's witness Murphee, viz:
'
4. In overruling defendant's motions for a mistrial and a new trial based on the cumulative effect of repeated prejudicial statements and conduct by the solicitor and a witness for the state during presentation of the state's case.
5. In refusing to give defendant's requested charges Nos. 6, 8, 11, D, DD, H, S, X and Z.
1 and 2
The trial court admitted this testimony with the understanding that it be 'connected up.' This was done by subsequent testimony. It has been held that '[t]he trial judge may determine the order of proof' in a criminal case. McDowell v. State, 238 Ala. 101, 105, 189 So. 183, 185; Scott v. State, 246 Ala. 545, 546, 21 So.2d 703; Scott v. State, 141 Ala. 1, 5-6, 37 So. 357. Accordingly, the trial court did not commit error in admitting the testimony at this stage of the trial.
3
The record discloses that this witness was fully cross-examined by counsel for defendant. Aside from the rule that the scope and extent of cross-examination are within the trial court's sound discretion (Jordan v. State, 267 Ala. 361, 365, 102 So.2d 4; Burgess v. State, 256 Ala. 5, 11, 53 So.2d 568; Cox v. State, 162 Ala. 66, 68, 50 So. 398), this question was argumentative in form and, for that reason, it was not error to sustain the state's objection to it.
4
In each instance complained of, the defendant's objection was sustained and the jury instructed to disregard the solicitor's remarks. The jury was also instructed to disregard the voluntary statements made by the sheriff during his examination. We cannot say that the several rulings of the trial court denying defendant's motions for a mistrial constituted, separately or collectively, error to reverse. From an examination of the entire record, consisting of more than 400 pages and disclosing a hard fought trial, it does not appear that the excluded remarks of the solicitor and the sheriff were of such nature as to have probably injuriously affected substantial rights of the defendant. Rule 45, Revised Rules of Practice in the Supreme Court, 261 Ala. XIX, XXXVII; Recompiled Code 1958, Tit. 7, Appendix, p. 1182.
5
Charges Nos. 6, 11 and D are substantially covered either by the trial court's oral charge or charges given at the request of the defendant. These charges were...
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Williams v. State
...misleading or contains erroneous statements of law. Wilbanks v. State, 289 Ala. 171, 174, 266 So.2d 632 (1972); Yessick v. State, 274 Ala. 488, 491, 149 So.2d 818 (1962). The supreme courts of Mississippi and Tennessee have held that it is not error for a trial court to refuse to give an in......
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Morrison v. State
...misleading or contains erroneous statements of law. Wilbanks v. State, 289 Ala. 171, 174, 266 So.2d 632 (1972); Yessick v. State, 274 Ala. 488, 491, 149 So.2d 818 (1962). "The Supreme Courts of Mississippi and Tennessee have held that it is not error for a trial court to refuse to give an i......
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Kitsos v. State
...Requested charge number 6 was clearly an incorrect statement of law and was properly refused for that reason. See Yessick v. State, 274 Ala. 488, 490, 149 So.2d 818, 820 (1962); Sasser v. State, 494 So.2d 857, 860 (Ala.Cr.App.1986); Craig v. State, 410 So.2d 449, 454 (Ala.Cr.App.1981). Requ......
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