Koon v. State
Koon v. State
Opinion of the Court
—The plaintiff in error, hereinafter referred to as the defendant, was convicted and sentenced in the Criminal Court of Record of Duval County, for the crime of assault with intent to commit murder in the second degree, and seeks a reversal of the judgment here by writ of error. Practically there is but one assignment of error; that is, that the court below erred in the denial
The fifth ground of the motion for new trial complains of the alleged refusal of the court to permit the defendant to testify to uncommunicated threats. We find no basis in the record for this ground of the motion.
The sixth ground of the motion for new trial complains of an alleged refusal of the court to permit the defendant to testify in effect that he had consulted his attorney as to the propriety of suing out a peace warrant against the party assaulted by him. The bill of exceptions touching this assignment shows the following questions and answers ruled upon by the court: “Question: Do you remember coming to my office on the Thursday morning previous to the shooting-, Friday ? Answer : I do. Q. Why did, you do so? A. I went there to consult you in reference to taking out a peace warrant against Mr. Lofton. Objected to by the State, and motion to strike answer. Objection sustained,, and motion granted.” Even if this ruling was erroneous, the de
The seventh ground of the motion for new trial, that constitutes the seventh assignment of error, is as follows: “Because the court erred in refusing to give in charge to the jury at request of the defendant, charges i, 2, 3, 4 and 5, as follows: Here we have the refusal of the court to give to the jury five several and distinct requested instructions grouped together in a single assignment of error, and in such case, under repeated, rulings of this court, Davis v. State, 69 Fla. 401, 68 South. Rep. 460; Charles v. State, 58 Fla. 17, 50 South. Rep. 419, and other cases therein cited, the court will look no further after ascertaining that any one of the refused instructions thus aggregated in such single assignment of error was properly refused. An assignment of error must prevail as an entirety, or fall as such. Applying this well settled rule, we find that the court properly refused the third requested instruction for the reason that the same had been already given by the court in substance and more accurately and fully in the sixteenth instruction given by the court to the jury. The same can be said of most of the others of the refused instructions, and this assignment of error must, therefore, be adjudged to have failed.
As to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd grounds for the motion for new trial questioning the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the conviction, we find that there were conflicts
There is set out in the bill of exceptions a second motion for new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence. This motion appears to have been made more than a month after the verdict and after the first motion for new trial had been denied by the court. Although there does not appear to have been any ruling by the court on this second motion for new trial, still it cannot avail the defendant, because it was made too late, long after the time limited by the statute for making and presenting such motions. As it was held in Kirkland v. State, 70 Fla. 584, 70 South. Rep. 592, the provisions of Section 1608 of the General Statutes is mandatory and fixes an absolute limit of time for making a motion for a new trial in a criminal case; and that the statute makes no exception in cases where the application is made on the ground of newly discovered evidence.
Finding no error in the record, the judgment of the court below is hereby affirmed, at the cost of Duval County, the defendant having been adjudged to be insolvent.
Taylor, C. J., and Shackleford, Cockrell, Whitfield and Ellis, J. J.. concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- George W. Koon, in Error v. The State of Florida, in Error
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- 5 cases
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- Syllabus
- Appellate Practiced—Sending Jury With Prosecuting Witness Out of Court Room—Assignment of Error With No Basis in Record Will Not Be Considered—Effect of Grouping Two or More Refused Instructions in Single Assignment of Error—Motion for New Trial Must Be Made in Criminal Case Within Time Limited By Statute. 1. While it is out of the ordinary procedure of trials and irregular to permit the jury trying a criminal case and the prosecuting witness to withdraw from the court room and to enter an adjoining room for the purpose of the exhibition to the jury of his wounds by the prosecuting witness, when neither the defendant nor his counsel were there immediately present with them, yet it will not be’ held to be reversible error when it is not shown that the prosecuting witness held any communication with the jury while in such room, nor exhibited to them his wounds, or that anything else happened in there at all detrimental to the defendant’s rights, and where the record affirmatively shows that the whole episode transpired within the view and hearing of the court and of the defendant and his counsel. 2. An assignment of error that has no basis of fact in the record will not be considered. 3. Where a defendant has already testified to certain facts without any objection thereto, it is not error if the court subsequently rejects, on objection interposed, his evidence that would have been simply a reiteration in substance of the same testimony already given. 4. Where the refusals to give two or more requested instructions are grouped together en masse as a single assignment of error, an appellate court will adjudge such assignment to have failed when it finds that any one of such instructions was properly refused. An assignment of error must prevail or fall as an entirety. 5. The provisions of Section 1608 of the General Statutes are mandatory, and fixes an absolute limit of time for making a motion for new trial in a criminal ease; and no exception is made therein for cases where the application is based on the ground of newly discovered evidence.