Spivey v. State
Spivey v. State
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Because the homicide is shown to have occurred in the Second Court District of Panola County, and therefore the Circuit Court of the First District did not have cognizance of the case, the judgment will be reversed ; but, with a view to another trial, it is proper to pass on other questions presented by the record.
The fact that the record here does not contain a copy of the indictment is not cause for reversal, as decided on the motion in this case on a former day.
The testimony that John Spivey, in the presence of the accused, called to his brother, saying, “ Bun here ; pa has killed Capt. Bailey,” was properly admitted. The note sent by
The accused was entitled to exhibit Bailey before the jury just as he confronted him when he shot him. His defence was that he killed Bailey because of a reasonable apprehension, excited by the hostile demonstration of Bailey, and honestly entertained by the accused, that he was at the time in imminent peril of some great bodily harm then about to be done him by Bailey, to avert which he shot him. His evidence tends to support this view of the killing. The jury was to determine as to the reasonableness of the apprehension of the accused, situated and circumstanced as he was at the time, knowing what' he knew of Bailey, and his feelings and disposition towards him, and seeing what he saw at the time in the action of Bailey, and interpreting it by the aid of his knowledge of his disposition towards him. The accused sent Bailey a note in the morning of the day of the killing, informing him that if his mules were found again in his (accused) wife’s field, the accused would shoot them. Bailey replied that he considered that a “banter,” and invited the accused to meet him after dinner, at a place named, with his “ good shot-gun ; we will try them.” About one o’clock Bailey was at the house of the accused, and asked him why he had not met- him as proposed. Angry words followed, and Bailey sent to his house for his gun, which was soon brought; but nothing further occurred, and Bailey and his companions went to the cotton-field to work, and about sunset returned to the front of the house of the accused, when Bailey dismounted from the mule he was riding, and started into the house of the accused, and was shot. The theory of the defence was that Bailey was so infuriated by the note sent him by the accused, threatening to shoot his mules, that he thought of bloodshed
The court did not err in rejecting evidence that Bailey was an “ overbearing, turbulent, and impetuous man.” That was irrelevant. If he was overbearing in disposition, quarrelsome, and impetuous, it does not. follow that he was given to violence, and dangerous. The principle on which it is admissible, in case of apparent danger to the accused from some overt act of the deceased indicating a present purpose to do him some great bodily harm, to show the character of the deceased is, that as the jury are to judge the conduct of the accused, circumstanced as he was at the time of the act for which he is on trial, they should be informed as to the sort of person alleged
The fifth instruction for the State does not fairly present the principle intended to be announced. It is calculated to mislead, by conveying a meaning not intended, and not correct. It is true that in acting on one’s apprehensions of danger, and slaying his assailant, he acts at his peril, — that is, he takes the risk of what a jury will determine as to the propriety of his action, — but this instruction fails to tell the jury what peril is meant, and it is highly probable that it conveyed an idea which unduly abridged the right of self-defence from apparent danger.
The thirteenth instruction for the State is clearly wrong, and is directly in the face of a decision of this court on the precise question. Finley v. Hunt, 56 Miss. 221.
■ We find no error in the refusal by the court of the eighth, eleYenth,- twelfth, and thirteenth instructions asked by the accused. The evidence suggests no doubt as to who did the shooting which killed Bailey, and it was therefore proper to refuse the eighth instruction. The others were unnecessary, and objectionable in other respects.
Judgment reversed and new trial awarded.
Reference
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- Needham G. Spivey v. State
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- 1. Criminal Law. Venue. Jurisdiction. Panola County. Under the act of 1878 dividing Panola County into two court districts, a conviction for murder in the district in which the homicide was not committed must he set aside for want of jurisdiction in the court. 2. Same. Horhicide. Evidence. Declaration %n presence of accused. S. was indicted for the murder of B. On the trial, a witness for the State was permitted to testify, against the objection of the defendant, that the son of the accused, immediately after the killing, and in the presence of his father, called to his brother, saying, “ Kun here; pa has killed B.” Held, that this testimony was properly admitted. & Same. Homicide. Evidence. Correspondence. ' On the morning of the 12th of June, 1880, S. wrote a note to B., informing him that if his mules should be found again in S.’s fieldhe would shoot them. B. replied by note, inviting S. to meet him after dinner at a place named, “and bring your shot-gun; we will try them; as I consider that it was a banter this morning.” About one o’clock of that day B. was at S.’s house, and asked him why he hadnotmet him as proposed. Angry words passed between them, and B. sent ■ for and obtained his gun; but nothing further then occun-ed, and B., with two or three companions, went to their field to work. About sunset of the same day they returned to the front of S.’s house, when B. dismounted from his mule and started into the house, but before reaching it was shot by S. Upon the trial of S., under an indictment for the murder of B., the notes above referred to were offered in evidence by the defendant, but were excluded by the court. S.’s defence was (and his evidence tended to prove it), that he killed B. because of a reasonable apprehension excited by the hostile demonstration of B., and honestly entertained by the accused, that he was at the time in imminent peril of some great bodily harm then about to be done him by B., to avert which he shot B. Held, that the notes were pertinent to the inquiry involved in the issue, and should have been admitted in evidence. They may be regarded as the beginning of the fatal difficulty between S. and B. 4. Same. Homicide. Evidence. Character of deceased. In the case above stated, the defendant proposed to prove that the deceased was an “overbearing, turbulent, and impetuous man,” but the court excluded the evidence. Held, that such evidence was properly rejected. If B. was “ overbearing, turbulent, and impetuous,” that did not heighten the danger the accused was in when he committed the homicide, nor excite his apprehension from the conduct of B., who may not have been violent, dangerous, or regardless of human life; and the inquiry as to the character of the deceased should have been limited to such features thereof as had a tendency to throw , light upon the alleged apprehension of the accused from the acts of B., or to illustrate the conduct of the deceased as an assailant. 6. Same. Homicide. Instruction. “Peril ” of slayer. Upon the trial of an indictment for murder, the following instruction was given for the State: “ Fear or apprehension, however sincerely entertained by the defendant, that B., the deceased, designed to take his life, or to do him some great bodily harm, affords no excuse or justification whatever to the defendant. He may have had a lively apprehension that his life was in imminent danger, and sincerely have believed that the ground of his apprehension was just and reasonable, yet if he acted upon them (such apprehension and belief), and in doing so killed B., he did so at his peril.” Held, that this instruction was misleading and erroneous, in not making it plain to the jury that the “peril” referred to is the risk of what the jury will determine as to the propriety of the action of the accused. 6. Samis. Instruction. Credibility of witnesses. An instruction in these words is erroneous: “If the jury believe from the whole evidence that any witness or witnesses for the defendant wilfully and knowingly testified falsely to any material fact in the case, the jury should disregard the testimony of such witness or witnesses, and should disbelieve them altogether, as unworthy of credit.” Finley v. Hunt, 56 Miss. 221, cited.