State v. Charles
State v. Charles
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The appellants were convicted of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature. There is evidence in the case that tends to show that appellants were on the street of Union, and A. C. Mann and Dr. Pope met them; that some words passed between Mr. Mann and Mr. Charles; that a fight followed, in which Mr. Mann was severely beaten; that Dr. Pope tried to interfere, and Mr. Estes prevented it, and when others came up to separate the combatants, Mr. Estes said to Mr. Charles, “That is enough.” There is evidence that the city had a trial of the case; that only Mr. Charles was tried, and that he pleaded guilty. Both defendants were convicted in the Court of Sessions, and appealed to this Court.
This exception cannot be sustained for two reasons; no ground of objection was stated. The objection-was to a •general statement by Charles, and no objection to the plea of guilty.
We cannot say that there was error here, unless we knew what the witness would have said. This is illustrated in this very case.
One exception (not argued) complains of error in excluding the answer to the question, “What was said by these par *421 ties (the defendants) in reference to a jitney bus?” The answer was, “There was nothing said by either of them about a jitney bus, or where they were going.” The record must show prejudicial error, and this record does not show it.
Corpus Juris, vol. V, p. 807 : “At common law, an assault or an assault and battery may be punished, either by fine or imprisonment or both.”
The nature of the offense in this case demanded severe punishment.
The exceptions are overruled, and the judgment appealed from affirmed.
Reference
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- 1. Criminal Law — Evidence—Relevancy.—In a criminal trial of two defendants for aggravated assault and battery in Court of Sessions, where it appeared that one of the defendants had pleaded guilty before the city council, Court properly sustained an objection to question whether city council made a case against the other defendant or discharged him, since Court is not bound by anything city council did. 2. Criminal Law — Evidence—Form of Objection. — In a criminal trial for aggravated assault and battery in Court of Sessions, Court properly overruled a general objection to the question whether defendant pleaded guilty to the offense in the municipal Court. . 3. Criminal Law — Evidence—Prejudicial Error. — In a criminal trial, the record does not show that sustaining of an objection to a question is prejudicial error, where it does not show what the answer would have been. 4. Criminal Law — Sufficiency of Evidence. — In a criminal trial of two defendants for aggravated assault and battery, where evidence shows that both defendants were on the street together, that one prevented bystander from interfering, while the other committed the assault, and when others came up said to the assailant, “That is enough,” Court does not err in refusing to direct a verdict in favor of the former. 5. Criminal Law — Sentence..—Under Cr. Code 1912, sec. 100, providing that where no punishment is provided by statute, Court shall award such sentence as is conformable to the common usage and practice in this State, Court does not err in sentencing defendants on conviction for an aggravated assault and battery to imprisonment without option of paying fine. 6. Criminal Law — Instructions.—-In criminal trial in Court of Sessions, where it appears that defendants have been previously tried in municipal Court, no prejudicial error is committed in instructing jury as to powers of that Court, since proceedings were irrelevant.