Marlow v. State

49 Fla. 7
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 15, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 49 Fla. 7 (Marlow 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
Marlow v. State, 49 Fla. 7 (Fla. 1905).

Opinion

Whitfield, C. J.

The plaintiff in error was indicted for the homicide of J. A. Brand and upon conviction of murder in the second degree took this writ of error. A special venire of forty names were drawn from the box by the judge. The name of Samuel R. Birdsey, Jr., was drawn from the box but it was not placed on the list constituting the special venire. A motion was made by the defendant to quash the venire for this reason. .The'order of the judge denying this motion states that Samuel R. Birdsey, Jr., who is a brother-in-law of Mr. R. R. Bullock, defendants counsel, lived in the county until he moved to'the State of Georgia, about a year or more previous to the trial and has remained there since; that when the name was drawn the fact of the removal was spoken of, and the judge remarked to Mr. R. B. Bullock that it was useless to place the name of S. R. Birdsey, Jr., on the venire, to which Mr. R. B. Bullock assented or made no objection. It was not harmful error to omit the name of Samuel R. Birdsey, Jr., from the special venire under these circumstances.

F. M. Townsend, 'a member, of the regular venire on vow dire examination stated that he is not acquainted with the defendant and did not know the deceased; that he had heard of the facts and circumstances of the alleged homicide from common rumor and read an account of it in the Ocala Banner. He was then asked: “Q. From what you heard and read did you form or express any opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant?” Ans. “T did.” Q. “Have you that opinion now?” Ans. “I have.” Q. “Is that opinion so. fixecj in your mind that it would not readily yield to the sworn evidence?” Ans. “I think not.” Townsend was tendered as a juror and on cross-examination answered questions as follows: Q. “Mr. [11]*11Townsend, you say that you have read newspaper accounts of this homicide, and that, from such newspaper accounts you have formed and expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant?” A. “I have.” Q. “Have you that opinion now?” A. “I have.” Q. “Would it require evidence to remove that opinion?” A. “I think it would.” Q. “You think then, that if you heard witnesses testify and they confirmed the newspaper repor t that you would lean to the belief in the correctness of said report?” A. “I think I would.” Q. “Now if witnesses contradicted said report from which you fdrmed that opinion of guilt or innocence, and you were refreshed by hearing witnesses as to the newspaper report, do you think .you would find difficulty in believing the witness ?” A. “I don’t know.” Q. “Having read that newspaper report, and having formed and expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the said defendant, do you believe you are now just as impartial as you would be if you had not so read that report, and so formed and expressed that opinion?” A. “I do not think I am.” Q. By the court: “Mr. Townsend, notwithstanding that report you have heard or read, is or (is) not your mind in that condition that your opinion would readily yield to the sworn testimony in the case ?” A. “I 'think it would.” The defendant challenged Townsend for cause. The challenge was overruled, and an exception was taken. This ruling is assigned as error. The talesman here testified that he is not acquainted with the defendant and did not know the deceased; that he had heard of the alleged homicide from common rumor and had read an account of it in a newspaper; that he had formed and expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant; that he still had that opinion; that such opinion is not so fixed in [12]*12his mind that it would not readily yield to the sworn evidence ; that it would require evidence to remove the opinion ; that if he heard witnesses testify and they confirmed the newspaper report he thought he would lean to the belief in the correctness of the report; that, if witnesses contradicted the report from which he formed the opinion of guilt or innocence of the defendant, and he was refreshed by hearing witnesses as to the newspaper report, he does not know if he would find difficulty in believing the witness; that having read... the. newspaper . report, and having formed . and. expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant he does not think he is just as impartial as he would be if he had not read the report and formed and expressed the opinion; that notwithstanding the report he had heard or read he thinks his mind is in that condition that his opinion would readily yield to the sworn testimony in the case. The state of Townsend’s mind as disclosed on his voir dire examination did not disqualify him as a juror and the challenge on that ground was properly overruled. Brown v. State, 40 Fla. 459, 25 South. Rep. 63; English v. State, 31 Fla. 340, 12 South. Rep. 689.

P. T. Randall, a witness for the State, testified as. to a difficulty between the defendant and the deceased stating that he heard a pistol fire twice; that deceased “staggered forward and when he fell I saw Mr. Marlow go out of the front door bareheaded and leave, and Mr. Brand (the deceased) then said: ‘don’t say I wrote the note, I did not do it.’ ” The defendant objected to the statement as being made by the deceased in the absence of the defendant and not in his hearing. Under the circumstances of this case the statement of the deceased above quoted was [13]*13properly admitted in evidence as a part of the res gestate. See Lambright v. State, 34 Fla. 564, 16 South. Rep. 582.

On cross-examination this witness testified that he had sent to the State Attorney the names of witnesses in this case and that he “helped Mr. Johnson (the father-in-law of Brand the deceased) as other citizens” by subscribing to the fund for the assistant attorney to prosecute the defendant. When asked how much did he subscribe and pay towards the fee to secure an attorney to prosecute Mr. Marlow he answered: “I gave Mr. Johnson ten dollars, also assisted by deducting twenty-five dollars from Mrs. Brand’s account.” On re-direct examination the witness waS asked if the ten dollars he contributed towards the employment of assistant counsel to aid in the prosecution of this case was donated by reason of any ill-will, animosity or malice towards the defendant and what was his reason for contributing the amount. Tjhe witness answered: “It .was not with any ill-feeling; as the other neighbors helped Mr. Johnson, I helped him also.” The defendant objected to the question before it was answered on the grounds that it was irrelevant and immaterial and that it sought the opinion of the witness; and after the witness answered the defendant moved to strike the portion of the answer, that “US' the other neighbors helped Mr. Johnson, I helped him also,” because it is not responsive to the question and is an expression of the opinion of the witness. The rulings of the court in permitting the question to be answered and in refusing to strike the portion of the answer as stated above were excepted to and errors are assigned thereon. The question called for an explanation of matters brought out on cross-examination and there was no error in permitting [14]*14it to be answered or in refusing the motion to strike a portion of the answer.

An assignment of error is based on a question asked the witness Randall on his. re-direct examination as to whether he and the other neighbors knew of the condition and circumstances of Mrs. Brand. This question was not answered so it is unnecessary to consider it.

The defendant objected to a question asked in the redirect examination as to the financial condition of Mrs.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Hinton v. State
347 So. 2d 1079 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1977)
Johnson v. State
206 So. 2d 673 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1968)
Jeffcoat v. State
138 So. 385 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1931)
Blackwell v. State
132 So. 468 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1931)
Morris v. State
123 So. 912 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1929)
Chandler v. State
113 So. 91 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1927)
Lamb v. State
107 So. 530 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1925)
Graham v. State
73 So. 594 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1916)
Robinson v. State
70 So. 595 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1916)
Padgett v. State
64 Fla. 389 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1912)
Williams v. State
58 Fla. 138 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1909)
Albritton v. State
54 Fla. 6 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1907)
King v. State
54 Fla. 47 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1907)
Melbourne v. State
51 Fla. 69 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1906)
Jordan v. State
50 Fla. 94 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1905)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 Fla. 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marlow-v-state-fla-1905.