Bond v. State

91 So. 461, 128 Miss. 792
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 15, 1922
DocketNo. 22069
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 91 So. 461 (Bond v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bond v. State, 91 So. 461, 128 Miss. 792 (Mich. 1922).

Opinions

Sykes, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The appellant, Henry A. Bond, Mancey Kelly, John Adams, and Will Morris were jointly indicted for the murder of J. F. Green. By the same grand jury these defendants were also jointly indicted for the killing of Lawrence Dunham. The defendants all joined in a motion for a change of venue from Greene county. This motion was finally overruled, and Mancey F. Kelly was tried and convicted of the murder of Lawrence Dunham, and sentenced to be hanged. An appeal was prosecuted to this court and the judgment of the lower court was affirmed. 90 So. 490. On that appeal the motion for a change of venue which was made by all the defendants was presented to the court, and after a most careful consideration the judgment of the lower court was affirmed.

Immediately after the trial of Kelly for the killing of Dunham this appellant was put on trial for the killing of Green, and in this trial the motion for change of venue was renewed. By agreement of counsel on both sides the testimony introduced upon the first motion was considered as a part of the testimony upon this motion for a change of venue. In addition thereto the appellant, Bond, made affidavit that, for reason of prejudice and ill will, he could not get a fair and impartial trial in Greene county. And a supporting affidavit to the same effect was filed by two other persons. Another motion was also filed for a change [794]*794of venue by the appellant, in winch he alleged further that the men who Avere killed were members of large and prominent families, and that a number of the veniremen summoned to try Kelly were related by blood or marriage to Dunham and Green; that the sheriff of Greene county, Webb Walley, is a relative of the deceased Dunham, and that, because the jury boxes Avere exhausted, the court ordered the sheriff upon an open venire to summon eighty men; that the members of this special venire were Avithin the hearing of the courtroom, and heard parts of the argument of counsel in the Mancey Kelly case, and that Kelly Avas conAdcted of murder and sentenced to be hanged; that during the argument of the Kelly case in the courthouse and courtyard Avere numerous relatives of the two dead men, and that for these additional reasons the appellant’s case Avas prejudiced in the public mind, and he could not get a fair and impartial trial. The record shoAvs that when the appellant asked for a special venire the jury boxes Avere practically exhausted, and that the court ordered a special venire issued by the clerk directed to the sheriff to sum-' mon eighty jurors, as is provided by section 2715, Code of 1.900 (section 2208, HemingAvay’s Code) ; that the sheriff himself did not personally summon this venire, but it Avas done by a deputy. A motion to quash this special venire was made by the defendant. 1-Ie alleges in this motion that the sheriff, Webb Walley, is kin to the deceased Durham ; that the venire Avas returnable the day that the Kelly case Avas argued before the jury, and that the veniremen who Avere out in the courthouse yard, heard parts of the argument of the Kelly case; that there were relatives and friends of the two dead men in the courtyard at the time, and that these relatives and friends Avere mixing and mingling with the veniremen; that the special venire was not selected from the county generally, but from*.certain special sections of it; and that a large number of them Avere related to the two dead men. Additional testimony upon the motion for a change of. venue was introduced by both [795]*795sides, which testimony was also considered on the motion to quash the venire.

The chancery clerk testified that he was serving his second term in that office, and had been tax assessor for twelve years; that there are one thousand, two hundred or one thousand, four hundred voters in Greene county, and that in his judgment, Bond could get a fair and impartial trial in the county, considering the county as a whole, and the method in which jurors are drawn; that the people at large had not heard the facts connected Avith the case, and did not know enough about it to disqualify them; that the special venire drawn in this case had been excluded from the courtroom during the trial of the Kelly case, and had not heard any- of the testimony. He testified that there had been a big croAvd present during the trial of the Kelly case, but numbers of the citizens of the county had not been there.

The circuit clerk testified that the defendants had a number of relatives in the county; that he believed Bond could get a fair and impartial trial; that he based this opinion upon the public sentiment; knowing the people as he did, that de did not think the majority of the people kneAV before the meeting of court what men had been arrested for this killing; that as circuit clerk he saAV and talked to a great many men in the county; that he had heard no expressions of ill Avill or prejudgment of Bond’s case except by some of the relatives of the dead men, but that the general run of citizens had not done so; that the two dead men had a number of relatives in the county. The circuit clerk also testified about issuing the open venire in this case to be executed by the sheriff as above set out.

Several other witnesses a?ere introduced by the state who testified that there had been no prejudgment of this case, and that they believed the defendant could get a fair and impartial trial. The sheriff also testified that his deputy summoned the venire in the Bond case; that he had nothing to do Avith it personally, except that he told the deputy to get good men; that he was related to the deceased Dun-[796]*796bam. He also testified that a large crowd attended the trial of Kelly.

The defendant introduced several witnesses who were summoned on the venire to try Bond. A number of these were kin to either the deceased Dunham or Green. Some of them testified that they were in the courthouse yard during the argument of the Kelly case, and could occasionally hear a part of the argument. Some of these had heard the case discussed, but a number of them testified that they had not heard anybody say that his mind was made up as to the guilt or innocence of Bond. None of these witnesses-heard all of the argument of any lawyer, and none of them testified that he formed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of Bond from these arguments. Some of these witnesses had formed and expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant.

Without going into detail into all of this testimony, it is sufficient to say that the vast majority of witnesses who testified stated that there was no ill will agaipst the defendant, and had been no prejudgment of his case; that they believed he could get a fair and impartial trial in Greene county.

In the impaneling of the jury it developed that nearly half of the eighty men were related by blood or marriage to either Green or Dunham, and about four of them were related to either Bond or Kelly. The venire of eighty men was exhausted, and the two regular juries were 'called and exhausted; then twenty additional veniremen were summoned, and the jury was completed from them. The ratio of relationship to the two dead men continued in about the same proportion as it did in the examination of the special venire. Not one of the jurors who tried Bond was challenged for cause by the defense.

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Related

Gilliard v. State
446 So. 2d 590 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1984)
Riley v. State
44 So. 2d 455 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1950)
Kimbrall v. State
174 So. 47 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1937)
Moon v. State
168 So. 476 (Mississippi Supreme Court, 1936)

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Bluebook (online)
91 So. 461, 128 Miss. 792, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bond-v-state-miss-1922.