State v. Oliver
State v. Oliver
Opinion of the Court
Appellant was convicted of the crime of murder and condemned to suffer the penalty of death. No argument was made in this court, nor brief filed, by the attorney appointed to represent him.
“Monday, October 11, 1921. Court met pursuant to adjournment, Ms honor Jerry Cline, judge, presiding, with M. M. Wood, deputy sheriff, and S. H. Jones, deputy clerk, in attendance.
“The grand jury, through their foreman, also reports the following true bills, which were ordered filed and warrants issued for the accused:
“State of Louisiana v. Charles Oliver, alias Steam Shovel, and John Epps, No. 18S5. Charge, Murder. To the bar personally come the accused, Charles Oliver, alias ‘Steam Shovel,’ and John Epps, and, being formally arraigned, each pleaded not guilty. On motion of the district attorney, this case is fixed for October 18, 1921.”
It is possible that the title and docket number of the case, as stated in the last paragraph of this entry on the minutes, has reference to the preceding paragraph, and denotes a case in which “a true bill” was reported ; but that is not at all certain, because this last paragraph of the minute entry is a complete statement of what occurred. The next following entry on the minutes, of date October 12, 1921, shows merely that an attorney was then appointed to represent the defendant, Charles Oliver. .
It is ordered that this case be remanded to the district court, and that a copy of the transcript of appeal be returned to the clerk of said court, for a correction and completion of the record, if it be not correct and complete, and that the transcript be returned to this court within 60 days from the date of this order.
Opinion on the Merits
On the Merits.
Charles Oliver (alias Steam Shovel), the accused, was indicted ■ jointly with one John Epps for the murder of one Jack Donald, and was found guilty as charged, and sentenced to be hanged.
The ruling was correct.
“I am going to stick Mm” (decedent) “if I have to do it in broad daylight, and I may have to throw him away.”
Evidence was allowed to go in as to this game and as to this procuring of the pistol, and as to the conversation. The judge says:
“Other testimony shows that the accused was searching for the deceased from the time the gambling game ended until the shooting occurred, and that the shooting was done with the pistol handed to the accused by John Epps. The incidents .were in quick succession, all closely connected with each other and thereby with the shooting itself. They were highly relevant and important in proving motive and malice.”
The circumstances thus immediately preceding the fatal event, and contributing to bringing it on, were certainly relevant; and evidence of them was certainly admissible for showing malice.
This testimony was objected to. The trial judge says of it:
“The statement was part of the res gestae; and at all events was not injurious to the defendant. It contained no charge against him; gave no account of what had occurred, and meant nothing more than a statement of what was already perfectly obvious — that the man was badly hurt, and wanted his wife to be informed of it.”
Evidently, the admission of this evidence was not injurious, and therefore is not ground for reversal.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE v. OLIVER
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- 8 cases
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- Syllabus
- (Syllabus by Editorial Staff.) 1. Criminal law &wkey;>1086(8), 1110(9) — Record must show proper indorsement and filing of indictment; otherwise, will be remanded for correction. The record on appeal must show that the indictment was indorsed “a true bill,” and the indorsement signed by the foreman of the grand jury, and that it was filed in open court; and, when it does not, the case will .be remanded for 'correction and completion of the record. 2. Criminal law On remand of a case to the district court for correction or completion of the record, such correction or completion must be conducted contradictorily with defendant and his attorney. On the Merits. 3. Criminal law A continuance was properly denied ■ where alleged material witnesses could not be found and the motion did not allege that it would be possible to find them later. 4. Criminal law &wkey;>l 1661/2(7) — Allowing peremptory challenge to absent juror not injurious. The irregularity, if any, in allowing a peremptory challenge by the state to an absent juror in order to avoid delay, was not injurious, where the right to peremptorily challenge the juror on his voir dire was unquestioned. 5. Homicide l56(l), 158(1) — Evidence of circumstances preceding killing, and of conversation in which defendant made threat, admissible to show malice. Where, prior to a homicide, the decedent, defendants, and others were engaged in a crap game in which one of the defendants pawned his pistol, and such defendant was searching for decedent from the time the game ended, and he redeemed his pistol until the shooting occurred, evidence concerning the game and the procuring of the pistol, and of a conversation between the participants in the game other than the deceased in which defendant made a threat against deceased, was admissible to show malice. 6. Criminal law &wkey;>l 169(1) — Evidence of declaration of decedent following shooting held not injurious. Testimony that after decedent was shot he told a witness to get his wife, and said he had been killed, was not injurious. O’Niell, J., dissenting in part.