McCall v. State

55 Fla. 108
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 15, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 55 Fla. 108 (McCall 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
McCall v. State, 55 Fla. 108 (Fla. 1908).

Opinion

Shackleford, C. J.

—Bart MtCall was indicted for murder in the first degree, tried and convicted of murder in the third degree and sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison for a term of ten years, which judgment he seeks to have reversed here upon a writ of error.

After the state had introduced all of its evidence in chief the defendant was called as a witness in his own behalf and the following questions propounded to him: “Why didn’t your brother want you to leave?” “What was said that night with reference to your sister, Mjrs. Blackman?” The sustaining of objections interposed by the state to these questions forms the basis for the first two assignments. Previous to the propounding of these questions the state had established the fact of the killing of Ed McCall by the defendant on the night of the 27th day of May, 1906. No error is made to appear to us in either of these assignments. As was said in Boykin v. State, 40 Fla. 484, text 491, 24 South. Rep. 141, text 144: “The excluded questions did not in and of themselves indicate the materiality or pertinency of the evidence expected in reply thereto, and no< exposition was made as to what evidence was expected to be elicited in reply thereto. Neither this 'court nor the trial court could, therefore, say whether the excluded evidence was material or pertinent or not. It is the duty of a party appealing to an appellate court to make the errors apparent of which he complains, and unless he does so the appellate court cannot declare error. The rule in such cases is, [111]*111that where a question to which an objection is sustained on the trial does not itself indicate whether the answer to, it will be material or pertinent evidence or not, the party seeking to introduce the evidence must, in order to have the ruling reviewed on appeal, make an offer of what he proposes to prove, so that the trial and appellate court can determine whether the proposed evidence is material or nlat, otherwise he fails to make his alleged error to appear, and the appellate court will so declare.” Also see the authorities there cited and, in addition thereto, the following: Wright v. State, 42 Fla. 239, 27 South. Rep. 863; Hoodless v. Jernigan, 46 Fla. 213, text 224, 35 South. Rep. 656, text 660, and authorities there cited; Starke v. State, 49 Fla. 41, 37 South. Rep. 850; Davis v. State, 54 Fla. 44 South. Rep. 757; Pugh v. State, decided here at the present term.

The third assignment is based upon the sustaining of an objection to the following question propounded to the defendant: “What else, if anything, was said that night with reference to your sister?” Previous to the asking of this question, the defendant had testified to the effect that some time before the night of the killing but not long after the defendant went to the home of the deceased to live, at which time their sister was living in such home also, the deceased had informed the defendant that he, the defendant, would like to have sexual intercourse with their sister. At the time the question was asked, the defendant had not testified to any conversation having taken place on the night of the tragedy between him and the deceased concerning their sister, nor had it been made to appear at the time the objection was interposed and sustained what evidence the defendant sought or expected to elicit by the question. What we have said in disposing of the first and second assignments is equally applicable here. After the court had sustained the objection the defendant then [112]*112stated, wliat he would testify to in response to the question, to the admission of which in evidence the state objected and the court excluded. This forms the basis for the fourth assignment. No error is made to appear here. The excluded testimony was in no wise responsive to the question but simply set forth in detail an account of what happened one night in the month of January prior to the killing on the 28th day of the following May between the deceased, the defendant and their sister, when, according to the proffered testimony, the deceased made an unsuccessful attempt to have sexual intercourse with their sister, which was prevented by the defendant. This produced a quarrel and an altercation between the deceased and the defendant on the night such attempt was made, and they continued to have quarrels about it up to the very night the killing took place, and that the deceased continued to keep the defendant at Iris' home and refused to permit him to return to his home iir Alabama for the reason that the deceased was afraid that the defendant would tell about the attempted rape by the deceased of their sister. There is absolutely nothing in the excluded testimony relating to what occurred on the night of the tragedy. Immediately after this proffered testimony was excluded the defendant proceeded to set forth in detail what took place on the night of the killing and stated that the quarrel arose and was renewed that night over the thwarted attempt of the deceased to have sexual intercourse with their sister. Therefore, the defendant had the full benefit of all the responsive testimony to the question and for that reason has nothing to complain of on that score. See Baker v. State, 30 Fla. 41, 11 South. Rep. 492; Mathis v. State, 45 Fla. 46, text 63, 34 South. Rep. 287, text 292; Eatman v. State, 48 Fla. 21, 37 South. Rep. 576.

The fifth assignment is based upon the exclusion of [113]*113certain portions of the testimony of Rebecca Blackman, the sister of the defendant and the deceased, in which she set forth the attempt of the deceased to have sexual intercourse with her in the month of January preceding the killing in May. What we have said in disposing of the fourth assignment applies here. This testimony, is too remote in point of time and has no relevancy to the crime for which the defendant was tried. The witness testified in the excluded testimony that just after the deceased miade his unsuccessful attempt upon her she left his house and returned to her home in Alabama. There is nothing in her excluded testimony which throws any light upon the tragedy.

The sixth and seventh assignments are based respectively upon the. refusal of the trial court to give the following instructions, at the request of the defendant:

“The court charges the jury that proof of good character, in connection with all the other evidence in the case, may generate in the minds of the jury a reasonable doubt which would entitle the defendant to an acquittal, when without such proof of good character the jury would convict.”
“The court charges the jury that proof of good character, if you believe from the evidence that the defendant has proven a good character, is a fact, which,taken in connection with all the other evidence in the case, may generate in the minds of the jury a reasonable doubt, which will entitle the defendant to an acquittal.”

In support of these assignments, the defendant cites and relies upon the following cases: Taylor v. State, (Ala.,) 42 South. Rep. 996; Bryant v. State, 116 Ala. 446, 23 South. Rep. 40; Miller v. State, 107 Ala. 40, 19 South. Rep. 37.

Unfortunately for the defendant, this court, in the well considered case of Olds v. State, 44 Fla. 452, 33 South. Rep. 296, has decided adversely to this conten[114]*114tion.

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Bluebook (online)
55 Fla. 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccall-v-state-fla-1908.