Moore v. Commonwealth

136 S.W. 608, 143 Ky. 405, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 390
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedApril 28, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 136 S.W. 608 (Moore v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. Commonwealth, 136 S.W. 608, 143 Ky. 405, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 390 (Ky. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

OPINION op the Court by

Judge Miller

Affirming.

In April, 1909, between eight and nine o’clock at night, the appellant, Dick Moore, shot and killed Jesse Cooley at Mayfield. Moore was indicted for murder, and his first trial resulted in a verdict convicting him of voluntary manslaughter, with a punishment of eight years’ confinement in the penitentiary. The circuit court granted him a new trial, and, upon the second trial, he was again convicted of voluntary manslaughter, and his punishment was fixed at five years’ confinement in the penitentiary; and from a judgment upon that verdict, he appeals.

The killing occurred near the Illinois Central Railroad depot, in front of what is known as the Depot Restaurant, which was conducted by R. E. Foster. Moore had been sitting at the counter in Foster’s restaurant, eating a lunch, some fifteen or twenty minutes, when Cooley entered the restaurant and went behind the counter where Foster was standing. Foster and Moore were discussing the best method of making coffee, and when Cooley entered, he interrupted their conversation by calling upon Foster to serve him with an order of fish. Moore thereupon asked Cooley: “Where is your hook?” or words to that effect. Cooley responded by asking Moore . what he had said. Moore repeated his question, and added to it by saying: “If you want to catch fish in the country you must use a steel hook, and if you want to catch them in the city you must use a silver hook,” or words to that effect. These remarks seemed to anger Cooley, who was drinking, whereupon he went to where Moore was sitting and had some conversation with him about what Moore had just said. The counter was between them, and Moore was sitting upon a high stool, leaning against the counter. There is a controversy as to what happened [407]*407at this time. The weight of- the testimony shows that Moore slapped Cooley’s hat off, and that Cooley picked it np and struck Moore over the head with it. Moore says that Cooley knocked, his own hat off in attempting to raise his hand over the counter, and that Cooley then picked up his hat and struck Moore over the face or head with it. The witnesses say (and this Moore admits) that Moore then said to Cooley: “Come outside and I will show you the meaning of a hook, or I will put a hook into you,” or words to that effect. Moore immediately retreated to the sidewalk, while Cooley came from behind the counter and followed Moore on to the sidewalk, whereupon Moore shot Cooley throught the bowels, and he died within a short time thereafter.

There is considerable conflict in the testimony as to what happened on the sidewalk. Moore contends that Cooley advanced upon him, caught him by the hair of his head, and was handling him very roughly with the intention of doing him bodily harm, when he fired in self-defense. In this claim Moore is not supported by the other witnesses. He stands practically alone as to this claim. Several witnesses, however, say that Moore shot Cooley immediately upon his reaching the sidewalk, and before Cooley had even touched or threatened him.

A reversal is asked on account of the admission and rejection of testimony, and the instructions to the jury.

1. R. E. Foster -testified at the examining trial held by the county judge. Foster’s testimony was taken down in shorthand notes and afterwards written out by Cas B. Crossland, official stenographer of the First Judicial District. Foster died, before the trial, and the court permitted the stenographer, over appellant’s objection, to read Foster’s testimony to the jury. The stenographer swore that Foster had been sworn by the judge before he gave his testimony, and that the testimony had been correctly taken and- written out in full. The- objection is based upon the ground that there is no record of the county .court showing the appointment of Crossland as a stenographer to take down this testimony, or that there was an examining trial. . The county court order-book shows that, on April 3d, the court adjourned until April 9th, for the purpose of allowing appellant to procure counsel; it contains nothing further upon the subject. We are of opinion that the circuit court properly permitted Foster’s former evidence to be read to the jury. This [408]*408question was carefully and fully considered in Austin v. Commonwealth, 124 Ky., 55. The competency of Foster’s testimony did not depend upon the record of the county court as to the appointment of a stenographer by that court for that occasion, or upon the fact that the county court’s records should show that there had been an examining trial. The ordinary method of proving what a witness swore to on a former occasion is to introduce some person who heard the evidence when given by the witness, and who remembered it, or remembered the substance of it. Kean v. Commonwealth, 10 Bush, 190. The statute relating to the appointment of official court stenographers has not materially changed the practice in this respect. Austin v. Commonwealth, supra. And in concluding an interesting discussion of the question, the court, in the Austin case, used this language:

“We think the stenographer’s bill may be proved and "read by him as evidence of what a deceased witness may have testified on a former trial, when that fact may be proved, provided he testified that it was taken down accurately by him at the trial,and is correctly transcribed. But other evidence, that of any other competent witness who heard and remembers the substance of the deceased witness’ testimony, is also receivable in the case to substantiate or to rebut the fact that the said witness did so testify. In this case the accused had the stenographer, on her cross-examination, to read her transcript of the evidence. This was also properly admitted for the reasons given above, as well as furnishing a test of the stenographer ’s memory and veracity. ’ ’

2. It is further contended that the court erred in allowing Foster’s deposition to be read after the appellant, Moore, had testified. Sections 221, 222 and 223, of the Criminal Code of Practice, provide for the conduct of a trial and the introduction of testimony. They require the Commonwealth to first introduce its evidence in support of the indictment; and that the defendant in the indictment shall subsequently offer his evidence in support of his defense. These Code provisions, however, do not provide a hard and fast rule applicable to all cases. In Williams v. Commonwealth, 90 Ky., 596, this court said it was well settled that the trial judge has a discretion in such a case, but that there should always be good cause for the introduction of testimony out of the regular order, and especially where injury may likely result [409]*409therefrom. The same practice was approved in Oldham v. Commonwealth, 22 Ky. Law Rep., 521. In the two cases last above cited, this court held that the accused persons had been prejudiced by the court allowing the Commonwealth to produce its testimony after the accused had testified; hut it is apparent, from the face of those cases, that they stand upon an entirely different footing from the case at bar. In this case the Commonwealth announced, before Moore had testified, that it was through with its evidence, “except the record of the examining trial and anything that may be addressed to the court as to the propriety of this testimony.” That testimony had been used upon the first trial, and its substance and contents were well known to appellant and his counsel.

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Bluebook (online)
136 S.W. 608, 143 Ky. 405, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 390, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-commonwealth-kyctapp-1911.