Harbin v. State
Harbin v. State
Opinion of the Court
The appellant was indicted jointly with his two brothers John and Nathan for the murder of Jerry Keeton, and, demanding a severance, was tried and convicted of murder in the second degree. The fact of the killing by appellant is not disputed, and the state’s theory of the case — and there was abundant evidence tending to support it — is that Harbin and his brothers armed themselves and went to a blacksmith shop on the road leading from Waynesboro, Tenn., to Florence, Ala., knowing that the deceased was traveling along that road and would pass this shop in a short time after they stationed themselves there, and there lay in wait with the purpose to kill Keeton; that there was an opening oh the side of the shop where these parties secreted themselves and through which they could observe the deceased as he approached; that just after Keeton passed the shop he was fired upon from behind, and, although mortally wounded, if not instantly killed, he retained his. seat in the vehicle in which he- was traveling; that deceased was accompanied by his nephew, a boy of 15 years of age, who was driving, and that defendant mounted his horse and followed down the road, and, when immediately behind the buggy, again fired upon deceased; and, although the whole top of his head was torn away and his brain scattered over his companion and the vehicle, he remained seated in the buggy until it was driven to his brother’s, some distance from where he was shot.
The fact that a bullet wound was found on one of the mare’s hind legs, the location of the wound, and the character of the-bullet extracted from the wound on the mare, were all pertinent facts having some tendency to support the state’s theory of the case.
There was evidence tending to show a former difficulty between the defendant and deceased, and that “bad blood” existed between them, and, while the deceased was not specifically mentioned in the threat testified to by Mrs. Hinton, the evidence was sufficient to authorize the jury to infer that the threat had reference to the deceased.- — Knight v. State, 160 Ala. 64, 49 South. 764; Williams v. State, 147 Ala. 10, 41 South. 992; Underhill, Crim. Evidence, § 328; Pearce v. State, 14 Ala. App. 120, 72 South. 213; Rains v. State, 88 Ala. 91, 7 South. 315; Pulliam v. State, 88 Ala. 1, 6 South. 839; Anderson v. State, 79 Ala. 5.
“A wider latitude is allowable on the cross, than upon the direct, examination of a witness. It is permissible upon a cross-examination, for the purpose of testing the memory, sincerity, etc., of the witness, to interrogate him as to matters wholly irrelevant to the issues in the case. The latitude and extent of such cross-examination, however, is a matter that must, of necessity, rest largely, if not exclusively, within the sound discretion of the trial court, and so long as that discretion is not abused, the action •of the trial court will not'be revised on appeal.” — Cox v. State, 162 Ala. 66, 50 South. 398.
No such abuse is shown with reference to the cross-examination of the witness Wright by the solicitor in this case*.
This disposes of all questions discussed by able counsel for appellant; and, while we have considered all others appearing on the record, we deem it unnecessary to treat them.
We find no error in the record, and the judgment of the circuit court is affirmed.
Affirmed.
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- Harbin v. the State
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