Lee v. State

134 So. 185, 160 Miss. 618, 1931 Miss. LEXIS 200
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 12, 1931
DocketNo. 29141.
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 134 So. 185 (Lee 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
Lee v. State, 134 So. 185, 160 Miss. 618, 1931 Miss. LEXIS 200 (Mich. 1931).

Opinion

*625 Ethridge, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

Appellant, W. P. Lee, on August 9, 1930, killed one Clarence Lanier, a deputy sheriff of Warren county, Mississippi. On August 13, 1930, the circuit judge called a special term of the circuit court to convene the 3d day of September, 1930, for the trial of criminal business. There was some excitement at the time of the killing, and the appellant was removed from Warren county to some place for safekeeping. The indictment being returned on the first day of court, the appellant filed a motion for a continuance of his case, setting out that he could not obtain a fair trial on account of the great excitement prevailing and the publicity given his case in the newspapers, and that he did not have- reasonable time to- prepare for trial. In connection with this motion it appeared that immediately after the killing the district attorney went to the scene and there took statements from all the witnesses which were taken down by the court reporter and reduced to writing.

*626 The appellant, having moved from Copiah county to Warren county a short time before the killing occurred, procured an attorney from Copiah county to defend him. This attorney was busy at the time of his employment, but as soon as practicable he went to the scene of the killing and sought to learn the facts from the people living there. He was informed by these people that the district attorney had taken their statements in writing, and that he would find them at the courthouse. He went to the district attorney, and requested to see these statements, but the district attorney refused to allow him to do so. He then told the district attorney that the witnesses seemed to be under the impression that they were not authorized to talk after giving such statements, and requested the district attorney to' give a statement to said parties that they were authorized to discuss the killing and talk to said attorney about it. This the district attorney likewise refused to do, but agreed, as a condition of telling them that they could talk, that they do so in the presence of a representative selected by the state, which condition was, by defendant’s attorney, refused.

When court met, an indictment was returned, and the defendant’s attorney asked the court to require the district attorney to furnish him with these statements of witnesses, which the' court refused to do.

It appears that, when the killing occurred, the newspaper carried accounts in which it was stated that the killing of Lanier, who was a deputy sheriff, occurred during a raid being made upon appellant’s place of business in search of intoxicating liquors. The 'report of the killing was sensational in character, highly unfavorable to the appellant. The appellant, in seeking a continuance, did not seek or desire a change of venue, but, as stated, sought a continuance because of inadequate time to prepare his defense, and because of the public excitement, due to the wide publication of thq newspaper, carrying the idea that the killing occurred during a raid by the officers in search of the appellant’s premises.

*627 It appears that the place where Leé, appellant, was doing business in Warren county was known as the “Log Store,” and that, prior to Lee’s occupancy of this building, it had acquired a reputation as being a dispensary of intoxicating' liquors, or a place where same could be procured. There had been several raids of the premises of Lee after he started a store or business there, but no liquor had been found.

As a background to this transaction, it appears that Lee sought to prove, but was not permitted to do so, that, shortly after he opened his business at the Log Store, Lanier, who lived nearby, approached him and demanded fifty dollars, stating that if it was not paid he would have Lee raided; that Lee told him that he did not have, and was not selling, liquors, and had no fifty dollars to pay; that shortly after this interview he was, in fact, raided, but the officers found no liquor; that Lanier again approached Lee, demanding fifty dollars or liquor, and stated that the Log Store was known as a “blind tiger,” and that Lee could not do business there and sell liquors without paying the officers fifty dollars; that Lee again refused to do this, stating-that he had no liquors and would not pay the money, and he was again raided; that at another time, the deceased, Lanier, approached Lee about the payment of money and stated that, if he did not pay this money or give him liquors, he' (Lanier) would run Lee out of the county; that nobody could sell liquors without paying for so doing; and that Lee again refused, and was again raided, but the officers found no liquors there.

The proof on the motion to continue in regard to. the public excitement was limited to the introduction of the newspaper reports carried at the time, which reports not only alleged that Lee was raided and the officer was 'killed in the raid, but also that he was spirited away to an unknown place, and there were unfavorable accounts of what happened at the time of the killing.

*628 The appellant did not show by witnesses what effect these newspaper accounts produced upon the public mind, and the only account we can get as to the effect on the public mind, other than the newspaper reports, is the voir dire examination of the special venire impaneled to try the case. A careful reading of the evidence on the voir dire examination indicates that, while the case was discussed, the jurors had no> fixed opinions, some of them stating that they read the accounts and thought at the time they were correct, but they had heard other things subsequent thereto which changed their minds. The jurors did not seem to have been unduly impressed with the newspaper accounts. It rather appears that they took these reports with an idea that they were “played up” or exaggerated, and they ‘reserved judgment of the facts until more was heard. Some of the jurors stated that there were always two- sides to matters of this kind.

It appears that, on the day of the killing, Lanier, the. deceased, was passing the Log Store, where there was also a filling station, and Tucker, son-in-law of Lee, who was jointly indicted with him, cried out, “Whoopee, drunk again,” and Lanier stopped his car and asked Tucker why he was always “hollering” at him, and Tucker said he was not “hollering” at Lanier, and that he did riot know he existed, and some words passed between Tucker and Lanier, the latter telling Tucker the matter had to stop, and Lanier then went to his home. Late in the evening Lanier came back by the Log Store, which was situated in the fork of the Vicksburg and Jackson road and the Vicksburg and Utica road, and turned in the direction of the Jackson road in front of the store. Tucker, who1 was across the road from the store, when Lanier came up, again cried out: “Whoopee, drunk again.” Lanier stopped his car, got out, and proceeded in Tucker’s direction, and again protested against Tucker “hollering” at him in this manner, and Tucker *629 again told him he was not “hollering” at him, and did not know he was living, or some such similar remark.

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Bluebook (online)
134 So. 185, 160 Miss. 618, 1931 Miss. LEXIS 200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-state-miss-1931.