Hunt v. Commonwealth
Hunt v. Commonwealth
Opinion of the Court
Affirming.
Under an indictment for murder, appellant was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and his penalty fixed at twelve years in the penitentiary. He appeals from that judgment, asking reversal on two grounds: (1) that the court erred in failing to sustain his motion for peremptory instructions; (2) improper argument of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.
The case follows the pattern of many killings in the mining section and had its origin in a dispute over a glass jar of “moonshine” whiskey. Appellant and the deceased, Cecil Belcher, were friends, lived only a few miles apart, worked in the same mining operation, and had never before had any trouble. According to the testimony of the Commonwealth, the deceased, Cecil Belcher, his son, Sidney Belcher, his brother-in-law, Mallard Williams, and the latter’s brother, Inard Williams, went to the home of appellant on Saturday night, December 10, 1949, the purpose of the visit, according to most of the testimony, being to obtain some whiskey from appellant. Cecil Belcher and Mallard Williams had gone to the grocery in the afternoon and, as they returned, left part of these groceries at Belcher’s home. However, they kept in the car they were using some eggs, bacon and honey and, after picking up Inard Williams and Sidney Belcher somewhere on the way, they proceeded to appellant’s home, arriving there after dark, between six and seven o’clock. Upon their arrival, they knocked on the door and were admitted. In the house were appellant, Loy Hunt, his wife Eva, four or five of their children, and Mrs. Hunt’s brother and cousin, Edgar and Malcolm Abshire. Shortly after their arrival, Cecil Belcher asked appellant for a quart of whiskey, whereupon appellant produced a half gallon jar full which deceased agreed to purchase for $8.00. Some of those present, including appellant and de
The story of the killing, as told by defense witnesses, presents an entirely different picture. According to that testimony, deceased, Cecil Belcher, and the party that was with him came to appellant’s door on -the Saturday night in question, rapped on the door, which was latched from the inside, and said, “Open up this God damned door. If you don’t, we’ll knock it down.” Before it could be unfastened, they pushed through it, breaking the latch, and came on in. They appeared to be under the influence of liquor. Cecil Belcher insisted that Eva Hunt cook the eggs and bacon he had brought with him, but she refused because she said she had been sick for a week and had not been able to cook for her own family. He then said, “By God, then I’ll fix them myself,” which he proceeded to do. After eating the eggs in the kitchen, he came back in the living room
There was a good .deal of testimony given by the various parties present, which included that of three young boys, other than those heretofore named, who had come to appellant’s place shortly before the shooting occurred. Much of the testimony was immaterial and was, of course, conflicting, depending on which side they were testifying for. However, the resume of the testimony as given above fairly presents the two sides of the issues involved and shows clearly that the question of fact presented is purely a jury question. Two well defined theories of the case were presented by the evidence; that of the Commonwealth, that deceased went unarmed to the home of appellant to buy liquor from him and was unnecessarily killed when an argument arose as to how it should be paid for; and that of the defense, that deceased, already drinking, burst into appellant’s house, ordering his wife to cook some food for him, then drawing a gun when ordered out of the house, and that appellant killed him in self-defense. These issues were presented to the jury under proper instructions and it was for the jury to determine the credibility of the witnesses and to decide whether deceased was killed without justification or excuse, or whether he was killed in necessary self-defense. After a careful reading of all the testimony, we are of the opinion that the lower court did not err in refusing to sustain appellant’s motion for a peremptory instruction in his favor.
The other ground complained of is improper argument of the Commonwealth’s Attorney. Appellant does
In ordinary murder cases, where the selling of liquor is not directly involved and where reference to bootlegging or unlawful selling of whiskey by the defendant is apparently lugged into the case to prejudice the jury, we have not hesitated to condemn that practice and to even reverse the judgment for that reason. However, in this case the whole question revolves around the question of the sale of liquor, whether it was bought from appellant, whether it was to be paid for then or sold on credit until the next payday and whether the argument resulting from this dispute led to the killing. Under the circumstances and proof in this case, we do not think the statements of the Commonwealth’s Attorney were out of line or were outside the record or that they were prejudicial to appellant. We have carefully read the remainder of the closing argument, which is too long to set out here, but we find nothing therein that goes outside the record or that is improper or inflammatory. We think the court did not err in refusing to discharge the jury for the reason complained of.
On the whole case, the defendant received a fair
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.