Mize v. State

69 S.E. 173, 135 Ga. 291, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 510
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedOctober 18, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 69 S.E. 173 (Mize v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mize v. State, 69 S.E. 173, 135 Ga. 291, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 510 (Ga. 1910).

Opinion

Evans, P. J.

' Tom Mize was convicted of the murder of Mack Walker, and was refused a new trial. From the case as made by the evidence 'it appears that the deceased, Mack Walker, with Ms two sons, John and Willie, and a neighbor, John Hardeman, left liis home on thé morning of the 20th of February to go hunting. Within a few minutes after they left; the defendant came to their home and inquired for the deceased and his son John. He was told that they had just gone hunting; whéreupon 'he said that he would see if he could find them, and directed his wife, who was with him, to return to his home. The defendant overtook the hunting party, and upon approaching them engaged in casual conversation with John Walker and Hardeman. The defendant then called to the deceased to come up to them, stating that he had some questions to ask John, his son, and wished the deceased to .hear the conversation. The deceased, the defendant, and John Walker walked off a few steps at the request of John. When out of the hearing of Hardeman the defendant asked John Walker where he was on the Tuesday before from eleven till four o’clock; to which John Walker replied that he was “in several different places.” The defendant then asked if the defendant’s daughter was with him during the time; and upon being told that he had been with her, the defendant drew bis pistol, remarking “She [293]*293won’t be anymore,” and immediately fired at John Walker, the shot taking effect' in his side. John ran as-he was shot, and the defendant then shot Mack Walker twice, killing him almost instantly.

In his statement before the jury the defendant said that he had lost an eye a short time previously, and was sitting around the house. At noon when he went in to dinner his daughter, a 16-year-old girl, who usually sat by him at the table, did not appear. His family did not know where she was. After dinner he went to the home of the deceased and inquired if she had been there, and was informed that she had not. He said to the wife of the deceased, “I am ruined;” to which she replied, “May be not; why do you say that?” The defendant replied, “Looks like the children want to slip off, or has done it.” He then returned to his home, got his pistol and put it in his pocket, and searched the premises in the vicinity of his home. While near an old outhouse in a field he saw a boy who informed him that he had seen a girl and a boy run out of the house and run back across the old field, but he didn’t know who they were. He then conceived the idea that she had run away and married John Walkér, and to verify this surmise he made investigation in the ordinary’s office to ascertain whether a license had been issued, and also made inquiry as to whether any one had seen John Walker and his daughter. No license had been issued, and he saw no one who had seen the couple about whom he was inquiring. He then returned home and found his daughter there, and asked her where she had been. She replied, “Nowhere,” to which he responded, “You are a liar.” He then told her that he would whip her if she did not tell him where she had been. She refused to tell him anything, and he then whipped her, but elicited no information. That night the deceased came down to defendant’s home to inquire if Dinah, his daughter, had come home. The defendant told him, she had, and asked the deceased, “Do you -know anything about it?” to which deceased replied, “No.” - Defendant then said to him, “Do you know anything that will do me any good?” The deceased replied, “Just a little time will wear it out and get better.” The next morning he made further investigations, but discovered no facts. He returned home that night still distressed, did not undress, and slept about three hours. On the next morning he [294]*294took his children and went into the woods to chop wood. He had cut down a tree and was sawing it when Dinah came down and said to him, “Pappy I will saw for you — I just want to.” He left the woods, returned to his home, took his wife and went to the home of the deceased, and inquired for deceased and his son John, and was told that they had gone rabbit-hunting. One of the smaller children of deceased told him that he thought the hunting party had gone down the branch, and he went in" that direction and heard the dogs running, and proceeded until he came up with them. When he reached the hunting party a young man named Hardeman and John Walker were sitting on a stump, and the deceased and a younger son were fifty or sixty yards away. The Hardeman boy asked the defendant why he did not have a gun, and he told him he could not see a rabbit as far as those briars (indicating) . He spoke a word or two about hunting; then he called the deceased, saying, “Come this way a minute;” and when the deceased came up there he said, “How are you getting on ?” The defendant replied, “Pretty bad; how are you?” The deceased then said, “I am getting along pretty well.” The defendant then said, “I waxxt to ask John a few questions, and I want you to hear what I ask him.” lie said, “All right.” Defendant then turned to John and said, “John I want to know where you were from eleven until four o’clock day before yesterday?” To which John replied, “If you want to know the truth, come right iip here and I will tell you.” John and the defendant and the deceased then moved off about twenty steps, when -John said to the defendant “What do you want?” The defendant replied, “Where were you from eleven till four o’clock day before yesterday?” John Walker said, “I was at a half a dozen different places.” The defendant then said, “T don’t care anything about that, you know what I want.” John replied, “Yes.” The defendant then said, “I want to know if you were in the old field in that old house with Dinah.” To which John replied, “Yes, I was; and I aint ashamed or afraid to own it.” The defendant then jerked out his pistol and said “You won’t be there any more.” John immediately turned to run, and the defendant fired. The deceased had his gun on his shoulder, and when the defendant fired at John he jerked it down and presented it towards the defendant, who fired upon the deceased twice, inflicting woxmds from which he immediately died.

[295]*2951. One of the grounds for new trial was that a grand juror, whose name appeared in the indictment, was a non-resident of the county, of which fact ho and his counsel were ignorant until after the trial. The indictment was returned at the March, 1910, term of the superior court, and an affidavit was presented in which the affiant deposed that during an interval between the last revision of the jury-box and the return of the indictment, the grand juror had lived in an adjoining county. The grand juror by affidavit deposed that he never liad changed his residence, but that temporarily he lived in the adjoining countjq while looking for a permanent position. If the grand juror moved out of the county, with no intention of changing his residence, he did not lose his citizenship and was a competent juror. Besides, the objection to the grand juror comes too late. The non-residence of a grand juror is ground for challenge propter defectum, and can not be made after verdict. Folds v. State, 123 Ga. 167 (51 S. E. 305); Wall v. State, 126 Ga. 549 (55 S. E. 484).

2. On the threshold of the trial, and before the State had submitted any evidence, defendant's counsel proposed to the court that the defendant would admit that he killed the deceased and assume the burden of proving that the homicide was justifiable, and-would claim the right to open and conclude the argument.

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Bluebook (online)
69 S.E. 173, 135 Ga. 291, 1910 Ga. LEXIS 510, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mize-v-state-ga-1910.