Mitchell v. State
Mitchell v. State
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff in error, William Mitchell, or Will Mitchell, as he is called in the indictment, was indicted and tried for, and convicted of, murder in the first degree for the homicide of one Aaron Hines, with recommendation to mercy, and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Fall term, 1900, of the Circuit Court of Escambia county, and from such sentence took writ of error here.
After two witnesses for the State had testified in-substance that they were present with the deceased and the defendant at an entertainment at the house of one Gaines on the night of the homjcide, and that at said entertainment, some hours prior* to the homicide, they were present when the deceased, 'in play, fastened a spring clasp from a suspender on the ear of the defendant, the deceased calling it a “kissing bug,” and that a few words were passed about it between the deceased and the defendant, the latter saying to the former that “he would get him for it,” or “would see him -again,” the State Attorney asked of one of such witnesses the following question: “What was Mitchell’s manner at that time?” and of the other witness: “What was Mitchell’s manner at the time the above remarks were passed; what kind of humor did he seem to be in?” These questions-
At the trial the defendant' took the stand as a witness on his own behalf and testified in substance: That while he was sitting down at the entertainment, called a mite meeting, with o-ne girl by his side and another in front of him, the deceased put a kissing bug on his ear; that it hurt so bad he jumped up, took it off and threw it down and asked deceased what he did it for, and that deceased then- asked him if he didn’t like it, and' on his saying “no,” the deceased struck him, in the fhce and said “find it then,” and said I had to find it, and struck him in the face two or three times; that the whole crowd of boys were there, and they said “make him find it;” that he broke out of the crowd and remained aloof from, them the rest of the evening; that one of the girls with him was named “Bama,” and was near enough if noticing, to have seen deceased strike him in the face; that the homicide took place on the street after the entertainment had
No ground of objection being suggested or made at the trial to the question: “Where is Bama now ?” no question is presented that an appellate court can review. Ever since the case of Gladden v. State, 12 Fla. 562, it has been the settled rule of this court that general objections to questions addressed to witnesses, without stating the precise ground of objection, are vague and nugatory and are without weight before an appellate court. While it might have been improper and erroneous had the court embodied the argument of the State’s counsel in the form of a charge, as being a rule of law, yet because the State Attorney reasoned fallaciously or illogically from the facts furnishes no ground for reversal of the trial court for refusing to stop such argument. Juries are not bound by, and do not usually adopt or act upon illogical deductions from the evidence presented to them in argument by counsel, and it is not reversible error for the court to refuse to interfere with the argument of counsel because it is illogical or not reasonably inferrable from the facts. Missouri Pac. Ry Co. v. White, 80 Texas 202, 15 S. W. Rep. 808; State v. Toombs, 79 Iowa, 741, 45 N. W. Rep. 300.
The sixth and last assignment of error is the order of the court overruling the defendant’s motion for new trial. The grounds of this motion were: 1st. That the verdict was contrary to the law as given by the court. 2nd. The verdict was contrary to the evidence. 3rd. Upon the ground of newly-discovered evidence. In support of the claim of newly-discovered evidence there were filed two affidavits the first by one of the counsel for the defendant, Mr. Brainard, in which he swears that he is one of the
Finding no errors the judgment of the court below is hereby affirmed. ,
We feel it our duty to mention the fact that out of the one hundred and fifteen pages of typewriten matter comprising the transcript of the record sent here in this case, seventy-four pages of it consists of the stenographer’s notes of the questions and anwers of the witnesses at the trial, certified by such stenographer, that have been improperly copied into- the record proper, in addition to the evidence in the case in narrative form duly and prop
Reference
- Full Case Name
- William Mitchell, in Error v. The State of Florida, in Error
- Cited By
- 25 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Criminal law — Opinion evidence — Grounds of objections to evidence must be stated — Argument of counsel — Harmless error —Newly discovered evidence as ground for new trial. 1. The physical or mental condition or appearance of a person, or his manner, habit or conduct, may be proved by the opinion of an ordinary witness, founded on observation. 2. General objections to questions addressed to witnesses, without stating the precise ground of objection, are vague and nugtory, and are without weight before an appellate court. 8. It is not reversible error for the court to refuse to interfere with the argument of counsel because it is illogical, or not based on deductions reasonably inferrable from the facts. 4. If from the verdict returned it is clear that a charge given did not influence the jury in arriving at it, and if from the standpoint of the verdict actually found such charge was favorble to the defendant, he cannot complain of it on writ of error, even though it may have been erroneous. 5. Applications for new trial upon the ground of newly discovered evidence are looked upon with distrust and disfavor, and are granted only under the following restrictions: (1) The evidence must have been discovered since the former trial. (2) The party must have used due diligence to discover and procure it on the former trial. -(3) It must be material to the issue. (4) It must go to the merits'of the cause, and not merely to impeach the character of a witness. (5) It must not be merely cumulative. (6) It must be such as ought to produce on another trial an opposite result on the merits. The party applying must make his vigilance apparent, for if it is left even doubtful that he knew of the evidence, or that he might, but for negligence, have known of and produced it, he will not succeed in his application. It is no sufficient proof- of diligence in this respect merely to assert in the affidavit that the defendants have used every endeavor to obtain evidene bearing on the issues involved in the case. Neither is it sufficient to show that the newly discovered evidence was not known to the defendants counsel until after the former trial.