Carter v. State

20 Fla. 754
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 15, 1884
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 20 Fla. 754 (Carter v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carter v. State, 20 Fla. 754 (Fla. 1884).

Opinion

Mr. Justice YanYalkenburgh

delivered the opinion of the Court.

In the month of August,. 1882, Silas B. Carter was indicted for the murder, in the county of Orange, of one [756]*756John W. Griffin. In May, 1883, the defendant having plead not guilty, was tried and found guilty of murder in the first degree. A motion for a new trial was made by defendant’s attorneys, who assigned the. following reasons :

1st. That the verdict was contrary to the evidence.

2d. That the verdict was contrary to the charge.of the court.

3d. That the jury erred in their conclusion drawn from the evidence.

4th. That the evidence is not sufficient to authorize the verdict rendered.

5th. That the jury was' misled by the charge of the court.

6th. That the court erred in the charge to the jury.

7th. That the court erred in giving special instructions prepared by the State’s Attorney.

8th. That one of the Jurors, viz : one J. M. Moorman, was not a legal juror. He said this on the voir, dire, that he had neither formed nor expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused, and he said, after having been sworn, that he was not a competent juror, and that the attorneys did not understand him ; that previous to his being called to serve as a juror he said publicly in consultation with Andrew Wise and others, in speaking of the mistrial of the jurors at the first hearing of the said cause, that Silas B. Carter ought to have been hung, and that if he had been on the^jury he would have hung him, and for other causes and reasons apparent on the face of the record.

9th. For discovery of new evidence which was not known to the defendant or his counsel previous to the trial, which evidence is material to the defendant in his defence.

10th. Also upon the ground of the misconduct of one of [757]*757the jurors during the trial of the cause as shown by affidavit.

The motion for a new trial was then overruled by the court, and the defendant’s counsel excepted to such judgment of the court. Afterwards, on the lltli day of July, the court pronounced the sentence according to law. The court then allowed a writ of error to this court, also ninety days in which to propose their hill of exceptions. Subsequently, on motion of plaintiff' in error, the time for pi’oposing a bill of exceptions was extended to the tenth day of November, 1883.

The errors assigned are as follows :

“ Eirst. The court erred in and by the special instructions requested by the State’s Attorney.”

“ Second. That the court erred in and by refusing to grant the motion for, and give a new trial to the said Silas B. Carter.”

“ Third. That the court erred in many other rulings and decisions as shown and appears from the records of said trial and conviction.”

This defendant was sentenced to death on the eleventh day of July, 1883, and notwithstanding the time to propose a hill of exceptions was extended to the tenth day of November of that year, no bill of exceptions embodying the testimony or any of it is in the record, and this court is unable to tell what evideuce was before the jury ; consequently the first, second, third, fourth and fifth grounds urged before the court on the motion i’or á new trial cannot here be considered. We cannot tell how applicable the charge was to the evidence adduced on the trial. The presumptions are all in favor of the court oelow.

The sixth ground urged for a new trial that the court erred in its charge to the jury eanuot be sustained. The charge as appears in the record is full in every particular, [758]*758embodying some eight or more propositions, most of them in accordance with the statute, and could not have misled the jury. The statute is cited, and the very language of the law is used in defining murder in the first, second, third and fourth degree, which we must presume applied to the evidence. Aside from the fact as above stated that many of the propositions of law as charged were correct, no exception was taken by the counsel for the defendant to any one single proposition so charged, nor even to the entire charge. The rule, however, is that the exception must be taken to the identical portion of the charge which is assigned as error, and that an exception to the entire charge is not sufficient if a single proposition therein is good. Burroughs vs. State, 17 Fla., 648, and cases cited.

The seventh ground for new trial, viz: That the court erred in giving the special instructions which were proposed by the State’s Attorney, cannot be sustained. Those special instructions thus asked for and granted, were as follows:

“ First. That the verdict must be made up from the evidence as given by the witnesses, and from the law as given by the court, and not from any statement of counsel.”

“ Second. That an assault and battery on another does not warrant the jury to infer that the party assaulted was in danger of his life, unless it is shown from Ihe evidence that the party assaulted was in such danger, and that he believed that he was in such danger, and that this must appear from the evidence.”

“ Third. That if the defendant had been assaulted by the deceased in the heat of blood, he, defendant, would have been guilty of manslaughter. But that if the jury believed from the testimony, that the parties separated after the assault, and that forty-eight or fifty hours after, the [759]*759defendant took a weapon, sought out the deceased and killed him, this is murder.”

“Fourth. That if the jury believe from the testimony that forty-eight or fifty hours elapsed between the assault and the killing, that this was time enough for the blood to cool, and if accused then killed defendant, he was guilty of murder, but that the jury must determine if sueh time did elapse between the assault and the killing.”

“Fifth. That for the jury to believe that the accused acted in self-defence, the fact must appear from the testimony and be properly Reducible from the evidence as given by the witnesses. That to constitute self-defence, the fatal blow must have been struck while the deceased was menacing the life or person of the accused.”

“ Sixth. That when it is in the power of a defendant to account for his conduct or to show his whereabouts at a particular time, his failure to do so is strong presumption against him.”

The record says : “ Counsel for the defendant excepted to the above special instructions.” ' Which note was signed and sealed by the Circuit Judge.

There is no exception taken to either one of the six above named special instructions, but a single exception to the whole. This, we have frequently had occasion to say, is not sufficient. The counsel excepting must put his finger upon the paragraph he considers error, and to that take his exception. Taking it to the whole charge as given by the Judge,' is fatal if either one of the propositions therein contained is in accordance with the law7. ■ He cannot sit quietly through the charge to the jury, and then, at its eouclusion, say: “ I except to the charge of the court.” The error must be pointed out. The Judge must then and there be advised of what is excepted to, and what is alleged to be error, in order, if possible, that sueh error may then and there be [760]*760corrected.

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Bluebook (online)
20 Fla. 754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-v-state-fla-1884.