State v. Emerson
State v. Emerson
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The appellant was indicted for the murder of Thomas E. Drake, and, upon being convicted with a recommendation to mercy, was sentenced to life imprisonment, from which appeal is taken upon numerous exceptions.
The homicide occurred on the night of August IS, 1906, in the home of the deceased in Anderson County. Mrs. Belle Bailey, a married daughter of the deceased, about thirty-one years old, was living in the home of her father, with her child Mary, about thirteen years old and her brother Ralph Emerson. The defendant, a sergeant of the county chain gang, left camp some fourteen miles from Drake’s for the purpose of visiting Belle Bailey in her bed room. Hitching his mule in the woods near the house, he went to the open window of the bed room and discovering a knot in the curtain, the signal agreed upon between them, he entered through the window. He placed his coat and pants upon the floor and his pistol on top in reach from the side of the bed and got in bed with Belle Bailey. The deceased occupied a room just across the hall and nearly opposite Belle Bailey’s room. Deceased got up during the night and set a lighted lamp in the hall on a table standing almost opposite Belle Bailey’s room door, which stood slightly ajar. Belle said to her paramour, “There is a light, Allen,” then got out of bed and started towards the door. She testified that her father pushed the door open before she reached it, that she asked him what he wanted and he said, “I want to hear a fuss,” that he had a pistol in his hand, that she heard Allen say, “Don’t shoot,” that her father immediately fired towards Allen, that Allen shot his pistol, that her father immediately started to shoot again, when Allen shot the second time and her father fell away from the room door into the hall. The deceased was shot through the heart and died immediately. The defendant testified that when Belle punched him in the side and said, “There is a light, Allen,” he raised up in bed and saw the door open and Drake with a pistol in hand, that he said to Drake, “Don’t you shoot me,” and bent over in bed *87 to get his pistol and while in that position Drake fired, the ball grazing and cutting the skin on his back, that he (defendant) then fired into the ceiling above to ward him off and get a chance to get out of the room, that Drake was about to fire again when defendant fired as quick as he could and Drake disappeared, that he then left the room without his clothes and went to where his mule was hitched, and that Belle brought the clothes to him there. The defendant and Belle went off together to Anderson, the defendant voluntarily surrendered to the sheriff and Belle went to Atlanta.
The defendant set up the plea of self-defense, and the real struggle in the case was on the point whether defendant was without fault in bringing on the difficulty. On this issue defendant sought to show the cause of Belle Bailey’s marriage with William Bailey, some thirteen years before the homicide, that her father knew of her unchaste character and her previous relations with the deceased, that he was estranged from his daughter by reason of her conduct, that he never spoke to her or entered her bed room, that defendant knew of this relation, and therefore did not expect to encounter the father on his visit to the daughter.
“Q. You need not state what you said to Allen Emerson, but I will ask you this question, whether or not you made it known to him, that your father never, under any circumstances, came into your room? A. I have. Q. You told him that? A. Yes, sir.”
After this, when the question referred to in the exception was asked, objection was made by the Solicitor and the Court sustained the objection. This cannot constitute reversible error, if it be conceded that the testimony was competent, for the question, in so far as it relates to whether Drake ever entered her room, had previously been answered without objection and remained as testimony in the case. Moreover the defendant, at folio 149, testified that he knew Drake never had any communication with Belle and never visited her room, and that he had no reason to expect to meet Drake in that room. It is not reversible error to exclude testimony as to matters already in evidence and undisputed. The fact that Drake did not speak to his daughter or visit her room was proven by the State, as already remarked, and was not a matter of dispute.
This contention is plausible, but not sound. It will be observed that the question was not so framed as to indicate to the Court that it was intended to show that the defendant was aware that the deceased had knowledge of his previous illicit relation with his daughter, on the contrary, the plain import was merely to show the knowledge of the deceased. If defendant was not aware that deceased had such knowledge, the fact of the deceased’s knowledge could have no influence in prompting or explaining the conduct of the defendant.
*90 Is the testimony competent as tending to show the attitude of deceased towards the accused at the time of the homicide? To be so it must fall within the rule governing the admission of evidence of previous quarrels, ill feeling or hostile acts between the parties. The rule on that subject is thus stated in 21 Cyc., 962: “Where there is a claim supported by some evidence of self-defense, or, as it has been well stated, where the proof justifies the giving of a charge on the law of self-defense, defendant may for the purpose of showing deceased to have been the aggressor, and the killing to have been necessary in self-defense, introduce evidence tending to show that deceased entertained hostile feelings towards him. Thus he may show that there had been previous difficulties or quarrels between himself and deceased, or that previous to the killing deceased had 'been guilty of acts and conduct evincing hostility towards defendant. Defendant may show that on former occasions deceased assaulted or attacked, beat, waylaid' or shot at him. There must, however, be some connection between the previous difficulties and the homicide; defendant cannot go back to a remote period and prove a particular quarrel or grudge unless he also proves a continued difference flowing from that source; but where there has been a series of difficulties down to the time of the killing, defendant may introduce evidence of previous affrays, difficulties and attacks, although remote in time and place, their weight being for the jury.”
In State v. Faile, 43 S. C., 62, 20 S. E., 798, it was held competent to give in evidence uncommunicated threats by the deceased against the accused made two weeks before the homicide, and in State v. Thrailkill, 71 S. C., 142, 50 S. E., 551, it was held competent to show that the deceased approached the scene of the difficulty armed with a gun with knowledge that the accused had just previously killed his brother. This and similar rulings are upon the ground that the evidence reasonably tends to show a hostile attitude by the deceased against the accused at the time of the homicide and to illustrate or interpret his action. But in this case the *91 attempt is not made to show any previous threat or hostile demonstration by the deceased, but mere knowledge by the deceased of defendant’s former conduct. The remoteness of the act sought to be put within the knowledge of the deceased and the failure to offer or attempt to connect it with the homicide, justified the Circuit Court in excluding the evidence. Daniel v. State (Ga.), 29 S. E. Rep., 769. In judging the mental attitude of the deceased at the time of the homicide, .it would be absurd to attribute his conduct to ill feeling engendered by information of an old wrong, the continued existence of which had not been manifested by any hostile word or deed, rather than to the overwhelming indignation and fury engendered by another similar wrong just perpetrated or about to be perpetrated under his roof. State v. Johnson, 2 Jones’ Law, 64 Am. Dec., 582. Moreover, the defendant instead of showing the continued existence of ill feeling by the deceased caused by his former conduct, testified to the contrary, for at folios 167, 183, 184, 191 and 192, he testified to the effect that his relations with the deceased were not unfriendly, that some eight or ten years before the homicide he made explanation of his relations with Belle to her relatives, Jesse Drake, John Drake and the deceased, Jesse Drake being spokesman for the party, that Jesse Drake was satisfied with his explanation, and that deceased never complained after such explanation. This testimony was not disputed. These exceptions must, therefore, be overruled.
The fifth exception assigns error in permitting the introduction of a note written by Emerson to Mrs. Bailey about a year before the homicide. As neither the note nor a statement of its contents appears in the “Case,” we are unable to consider the exception.
The sixth exception alleges error in the following particulars : (1) the defendant had not been asked as to any conversation to which Prince was a party and had no opportunity to deny it; (2) defendant had the right to have witness repeat the exact language in order to test the accuracy of his memory; (3) in the form in which the question was put witness was made to simply repeat Suber’s statement.
Statements or declarations of the accused relative to matters in issue may be given in evidence whether he goes on the stand as a witness or not, and, therefore, if he testifies it is not essential that he be advertised of the purpose to give his declarations in evidence. State v. White, 15 S. C., 391; State v. Freeman, 43 S. C., 107, 20 S. E., 974. The accused in this case was particularly advised of the particular conversation and gave his version of it. It was competent in reply for the State to corroborate the testimony of Súber by the testimony of another witness who was present at the time. When it is desired to give the declaration of the accused in evidence, it is proper, when it is possible to do so, to give his exact words, but if the witness cannot state with certainty the exact words, it is competent to state the substance of the declaration, and the accuracy and truth of the *93 witness may be tested under cross-examination. When the particular form in which the question is put is the point of exception, timely objection should be made so as to give the Court an opportunity to see that the question is in proper form before answer, which was not done in this case. We, however, see no ground for reversal on account of the form of the question under the circumstances.
“It is, and always has been, an elementary principle of criminal law, so familiar as not even to require a citation of our own numerous adjudications upon it, that one who provokes a difficulty — who by his own wrong contributes to a situation out of which arise a necessity to take the life of another to preserve his own — cannot invoke the doctrine of self-defense to justify the homicide he commits in such difficulty — cannot plead a necessity to kill which arose from his own wrong. Sexual intercourse with the wife of another is such a wrong, so obviously calculated to bring on a difficulty with the husband, as that the law itself recognizes it as provocation sufficient to reduce the killing of the adulteress *94 and her paramour by the husband, upon detecting them in the act, to manslaughter — a wrong which is an adjudged provocation to homicide on the part of the husband. If, as in the case at bar, the paramour, in order to save his own life from the consequences of the deadly passions of the husband, excited by the wrong of the former, slays the husband, he can in no sense be said to have been free from fault in bringing about the mortal rencounter; the fatal result, to the contrary, is traceable directly to his own wrong, and he cannot justify his act by an invocation of the doctrine under which one free from fault and unable to retreat is authorized to save his own life by destroying that of another.
“It is also a too elementary and familiar principle of law to need discussion or reference to authorities, that if one entering upon the commission of a wrongful act has in contemplation that another will or may interfere with his enterprise, arms himself with a deadly weapon with the intent to take the life of that other should it become necessary to save his own in the course of such interference, and who in fact does take the life of the person so interfering in pursuance of such intent, is guilty of murder in the first degree; the intent to kill under the conditions contemplated constituting the ‘formed design’ sufficient and necessary in murder, when the circumstances of the act do not justify the design, and the wrongfulness of the act in which the slayer was engaged at the time, the necessity to strike arose, precluding all justification of the design.”
Error is assigned to this charge in the following particulars: (1) It was inapplicable to the facts of this case and tended to excite the jury against the defendant ; (2) It is not an adjudged provocation to homicide if a father find one in cohabitation with his daughter of known immoral character whose immorality had so estranged him that he ceased to treat her as a daughter; (3) That it erroneously conveyed to the jury as the opinion of the Court that the defendant had precluded himself from setting up the plea of self-defense, and that it was lawful for Drake to kill Emerson because of *95 his cohabitation with the daughter of deceased. (4) There was no evidence that defendant in this case “armed himself in anticipation that any one might or would interfere in his purpose and with intent to take the life of the other should it become necessary to save his own in the course of such interference, etc.” (5) That having charged at defendant’s request that one who knows the unchaste character of a female will not be excused for assaulting one found in cohabitation with her to the same extent as would one who had no previous knowledge of the woman’s lack of virtue, it was error to give to the jury the facts and law of the Alabama case, the two propositions being diametrically opposed.
There is no doubt that the common law rule prevails in this State that if a husband discovers one in the act of adultery with his wife and immediately kills him he is guilty, not of murder, but of manslaughter; upon the ground that the adulterous act is an act of aggression against the husband, constituting in law a sufficient provocation to engender the heat and passion which negatives malice. In 4 Bl. Com., Sharswood Ed., p. 1.90, we find: “So if a man takes another in the act of adultery with his wife and kills him directly upon the spot, though this was allowed by the law of Solon, as likewise by the Roman Civil Raw (if the adulterer was found in the husband’s own house) and also among the ancient Goths, yet in England it is not absolutely ranked in the class of justifiable homicide, as in case of a forcible rape, but it is manslaughter. It is, however, the lowest degree of it; and therefore, in such a case the Court directed the burning in the hand to be gently inflicted, because there could not be a greater provocation.” In State v. Chiles, 58 S. C., 49, this Court approved as correct a charge that it would be manslaughter for a husband to kill one while in the act of adultery with his wife.
The same principle should apply where a father kills one whom he detects in illicit intercourse with his daughter, especially if she be a member of his houshold and under his roof, as the cases stand upon the'same footing of reason and *96 justice. 21 Cyc., 753; State v. Grugin, 147 Mo., 39, 71 Am. St. Rev., 553; 42 L. R. A., 774. If such a provocation be sufficient to mitigate a killing of the paramour by the father to manslaughter, it is surely a wrongful act reasonably calculated to stir the passion of the father and provoke an attack by him, such as would deprive the paramour of any right of self-defense should he kill the father who attacks him on the spot. The law of self-defense, as repeatedly declared in this State, requires that the slayer shall be “without fault” in bringing on the difficulty. One is not “without fault” who does that which a reasonable man would expect to bring on a physical encounter and which did actually contribute to bringing it on. State v. Rozuell, 75 S. C., 510. If we concede that defendant had no' reasonably safe means of escape and shot Drake to save his own life, his plea of self-defense is unavailing, because by his own guilty act he brought on the necessity to kill.
But it is said the testimony supports a theory that the father had knowledge of his daughter’s unchastity, and because of this was so estranged from her as to- have abandoned her and lost all concern about her conduct and welfare, and that, therefore, he did not attack defendant in sudden heat and passion- upon a new provocation, but in- revenge for past wrong, which clothed defendant with the right of self-defense.
No reasonable view of the testimony warranted an inference that the father had so abandoned his daughter to a life of shame as not to be naturally moved to ungovernable wrath by witnessing her further pollution. It is true, Emerson testified that he had been1 making similar visits to the room of Belle Bailey once or twice a month during 1906, but there was no attempt to- show that Drake acquiesced in it, or that he was aware of it. Drake undoubtedly knew of the daughter’s downfall many years before, and his prortd heart was so stung and humiliated by it that he did not entirely forgive her, yet the undisputed testimony is that by his wish she was living under his roof as a member of his household. She kept the house and did the cooking, but there was nothing unusual or degrading in that. Her sister Kittie did the same thing until she married. She ate at his table and entertained her friends in his home. She received support for herself and child from her father’s means and had her own pocket money from the farm produce. She had the friendship of her brother and the companionship and love of her innocent child in the old home. The father’s grief for her former lapse forbids the thought that he had lost concern for her as his daughter, and the *99 denouement shows that she could have relied on his protection from further dishonor at any cost. We do not hesitate to say that there is nothing in the testimony to warrant an inference that the relation between father and daughter was such that defendant was without fault in bringing about the necessity to kill.
At request of appellant the Court instructed the jury: “That the illicit intercourse of one with a female of well known unchaste character, with her consent, is not such provocation, if her want of chastity be known to her male relatives, as would reduce the homicide of the man by the relative to manslaughter. And one found in intercourse with such woman under such circumstances, if assaulted by her relative under the facts herein supposed to exist, may defend himself from assault to the extent of taking human life, if it be necessary to protect his own life, or to protect his person from serious bodily harm, provided he did nothing more than this to bring on the difficulty, and there was no other safe means of escape, and provided the jury believe a reasonably firm person under the same circumstances would come to the same conclusion.” Whether this was a correct charge was not involved in the appeal. Certainly it was as favorable to appellant as he could possibly expect, in so far as his contention rests upon the unchaste character of Belle Bailey, and should be fairly construed as a qualification of the rule stated in the Alabáma case in accordance with appellant’s view.
Furthermore, an issue was raised in the testimony whethei Drake fired his pistol at all that night. There was testimony that after careful search in the room and on the ground about the window, no bullet marks, other than those made by balls from Emerson’s pistol, could be found, and no bullet from Drake’s pistol could be found, and there was a conflict of testimony as to whether the pistol of Drake, found by his side with one empty shell, appeared to have been recently discharged.
*101 The foregoing certainly constitutes some evidence tending to show that Emerson entered Drake’s home for an unlawful purpose, and with the intention, to use a deadly weapon against any one interfering with its accomplishment. If Emerson killed Drake pursuant to such formal design, it was murder.
The fourteenth exception imputes error in charging the jury: “If you conclude that the defendant was a trespasser in that house, and the trespassing was such as would be reasonably calculated to precipitate a conflict, then such trespasser could not be said to be without fault, and in that event such trespasser could not invoke the plea of self-defense.” The error assigned being that the charge implied the right on the part of the deceased to assault the defendant with a deadly weapon and seek to kill him because he was a trespasser. This is an incorrect view of the charge. The Court did not use the term1 trespasser in the sense of one committing a simple trespass upon real property, as contended by appellant, but a trespasser in the sense disclosed by the evidence, and already discussed, and he left it to the jury to say whether such a trespass was committed by Emerson as was reasonably calculated to precipitate a conflict with the deceased in his home. The charge was correct and in accordance with the views heretofore announced.
*103 After careful consideration of every exception, we find no ground for reversal.
The judgment of the Circuit Court is, therefore, affirmed.
Reference
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- State v. Emerson.
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- 1. Evidence — Murder—Self-Defense.—In.trial for murder for killing a father in room of daughter, under plea of self-defense, testimony to the effect that another had been forced thirteen years before to marry the daughter on account of unchaste relations with her is too remote. If offered to show estrangement between the father and daughter, its exclusion was harmless, as that fact was testified to by the same witness in chief. 2. Ibid. — It is not reversible error to exclude evidence as to matters already in evidence and undisputed; 3. Ibid. — Self-Defense.—Where the only evidence of illicit intercourse between defendant and deceased’s daughter was of an occurrence ten years previous, it is not competent to show the father had knowledge of such relation as tending to show the attitude of the deceased toward the defendant at the time of the homicide. 4. Ibid. — Declarations—Contradiction.-—It is not necessary that a defendant in a murder case be advised of the purpose to put his declarations as to a matter in issue in evidence, but where he is advised of a particular conversation with one person and gives his version of it, in reply he may be contradicted by another, who says he heard the conversation, but whose name was not given to defendant on his examination as being present at the time. Under the facts here that Solicitor asked the witness in reply the substance of the conversation is not reversible error. The substance of a conversation may be given by a witness, if he cannot recall the exact words. 5. Self-Defense. — It Would be Manslaughter for a father to kill a man whom he detects in his home in illicit intercourse with his daughter, who is a member of his family. Such wrongful act on the part of the paramour would be reasonably calculated to stir the passion of the father and provoke an attack by him, such as would deprive the paramour of any right of self-defense should he kill the father who attacks him on the spot. This doctrine read by thCourt in his charge from the opinion in the case of Dabney v. State, 113 Ala., 58, is the law of this State. 6. Ibid. — There is nothing in the evidence in this case to warrant the inference that the father had so abandoned his daughter to a life of shame as not to be moved to ungovernable wrath by witnessing her further pollution, so that defendant could say he was without fault in bringing about the necessity to kill the father.* Varnell v. State, 26 Tex. App., distinguished from this case. 7. Ibid. — Murder.—There was evidence here tending to show defendant armed himself with a pistol in anticipation of some one interfering with his purpose and with the intent to take the life of such one should it be necessary to save his own in the course of such interference. This evidence made the charge, based on the Alabama case, applicable to this case. If such was defendant’s formed design, he is guilty of murder. 8. Ibid. — The portion of the charge complained of as not giving the defendant the benefit of the doctrine: If one is not without fault in bringing on a difficulty but abandons the conflict in good faith, his right of self-defense survives, and that defendant should be acquitted if there be reasonable doubt of his guilt, could not have prejudiced his case as this doctrine was fully covered in giving two of defendant’s requests. 9. Ibid. — Refusal of request as to duty to retreat if thereby his danger is increased was not prejudicial, as the doctrine was charged more clearly and more favorably to defendant in the main charge than as stated in the-request.