Nichols v. State

100 So. 2d 750, 267 Ala. 217, 1958 Ala. LEXIS 304
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJanuary 23, 1958
Docket4 Div. 929
StatusPublished
Cited by113 cases

This text of 100 So. 2d 750 (Nichols v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nichols v. State, 100 So. 2d 750, 267 Ala. 217, 1958 Ala. LEXIS 304 (Ala. 1958).

Opinion

*220 MERRILL, Justice.

Lucile M. Nichols was indicted for murder in the first degree, being charged with the murder of her husband, Ralph W. Nichols; and upon trial, she was convicted of murder in the second degree and punishment was fixed by the trial jury at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a period of 'thirty years. The appellant’s motion for a new trial was denied. Hereafter, the appellant, Lucile M. Nichols, will be referred to as the defendant.

The evidence shows that on the afternoon of 31st of December, 1956, the defendant shot the deceased in their bedroom in Dothan, Alabama. Several city policemen, the sheriff and certain deputies went to the Nichols’ home. When the officers arrived 'at the home of the defendant, they found the defendant, her daughter Rhoda, and Benjamin Challcer, who has since married Rhoda. The body of the deceased was in the bedroom. The defendant was crying and wringing her hands. One officer testified that defendant stated: “Lord have mercy, I didn’t mean to kill him * * * I love him.” This same officer testified that defendant stated also: “If I couldn’t have him, ho one else could.”

At the time of the shooting only the deceased, the defendant, daughter Rhoda and Benjamin Challcer were in the house. Challcer testified that on the afternoon of the 31st of December, 1956, at about four or four-thirty, he saw the deceased, Ralph W. Nichols; that they (he and the deceased) were talking in the kitchen of the Nichols’ home; that the telephone rang and Nichols answered it; that he heard him say: “All right, all right, you get your own lawyer,” slammed the phone down, appeared mad and left in his car; that he returned in about five minutes with Mrs. Nichols; that he and Rhoda went into the den; that he heard deceased and Mrs. Nichols arguing in their bedroom and heard the word “divorce;” that it wasn’t long before he heard some shots.

The defendant interposed pleas of not guilty, not guilty by reason of self-defense, and not guilty by reason of insanity.

The defendant’s daughter, Rhoda, gave' the only evidence in support of the plea of self-defense. Rhoda testified that after hex mother and father returned home on the afternoon of the 31st of Decembei-, witness went into the den of their home; that from her seat in the den, she could see the bedroom where her mother and father were; that the door to the bedroom was partially open and that she saw her father rush at her mother; that she turned her head to Benjamin, who was sitting on the sofa, and then heard shots. There is other evidence in the record which shows that Rhoda told the investigating officers, her grandfather and grandmother that the door to the bedroom was closed and that she did not see anything. Furthei*, that she and Benjamin were sitting on the settee or sofa at the time of the shooting. State’s exhibit 7 shows that the bedroom could not be seen from the said sofa or settee. The record reveals that Benjamin Challcer made similar remarks about the door being closed and not being able to see the bedroom. It is undisputed that in Dothan “it was common gossip all over town about her husband (Nichols) cari-ying on” with a woman who lived in Marianna, Florida. On Saturday before the killing occurred on Monday, the defendant was informed that her husband was in the apartment of one Joy Draughon in Marianna. The defendant, her daughter Rhoda, and Challcer drove to Marianna in Chalker’s automobile and that afternoon in the company of a Marianna policeman, *221 they f ound Nichols asleep on a couch in the Draughon woman’s apartment. He was' intoxicated and had his shoes off. He left the apartment with them and after the departure of the policeman, rode around with them in Chalker’s car. During that ride, he agreed that he would not contest a divorce in favor of the defendant. He was put out of the car in front of the Draughon woman’s apartment and the defendant, Rhoda and Chalker drove back to Dothan. The defendant went to see her pastor, then drove to Enterprise to talk with Nichols’ parents, came back to Dothan and borrowed the pistol with which she shot deceased four times on Monday afternoon. The evidence affords the inference — although the defendant contends to the contrary — that deceased was first shot in the hack, and then shot in the face, neck and chest while falling or while on the floor.

The defendant insists that many errors are contained in the record. We proceed to examine her contentions and number them for convenience.

I. Remarks of the Trial Court

The State planned to use the sheriff as a witness because the sheriff was one of the investigating officers who went to the scene soon after the shooting happened. The solicitor asked the court to excuse the sheriff from the rule. The attorney for the defendant objected on the ground that it would be prejudicial to^ the rights of the defendant. The court then made the following statement:

“I don’t think I agree with the attorney for the defendant. I don’t think the Sheriff of our County would let anything influence him in the giving of his testimony except his conscience.”

The court then excused the sheriff from the rule and defendant excepted to his 'ruling. We have held that where witnesses .are placed under the rule, it . is discretionary with the presiding judge to permit exceptions to its enforcement. Webb v. State, 100 Ala. 47, 14 So. 865; McDowell v. State, 238 Ala. 101, 189 So. 183; Smarr v. State, 260 Ala. 30, 68 So.2d 6. The defendant contends that the court’s remark concerning the sheriff was a comment on his credibility and, therefore, reversible. The attorney for the defendant did "not except to the court’s statement nor did he move the court to instruct the jury to disregard the statement. As we read the record, counsel for defendant agreed with the court’s remark about the sheriff. It was on his motion for a new trial that defendant first asserted that the trial court erred in making the statement. We think the remarks of a trial judge come within the same rules as improper argument or remarks of counsel. The general rule is that improper argument of counsel (or improper remarks from the court) is not a ground for a new trial or subject of review on appeal unless there is due objection by counsel or a motion to exclude, a ruling thereon by the court and an exception thereto, or a refusal of the court to make a ruling. Washington v. State, 259 Ala. 104, 65 So.2d 704; Anderson v. State, 209 Ala. 36, 95 So. 171.

An exception to this general rule, requiring appropriate objection or motion invoking corrective instruction or action by the trial court, is where the remark or argument of counsel (or court) is so grossly improper and highly prejudicial to the opposing party as that neither retraction nor rebuke by the trial court would have destroyed its sinister influence. Anderson v. State, 209 Ala. 36, 95 So. 171.

In Phillips v. Beene, 16 Ala. 720, this court held:

“ 'It cannot be seriously contended that every expression of opinion by the court, during the progress of the trial, if erroneous, shall furnish ground for reversal. But such opinion must, in some manner, influence the result of the cause, or be supposed to do so, by being given in charge to the jury, or *222

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Bluebook (online)
100 So. 2d 750, 267 Ala. 217, 1958 Ala. LEXIS 304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nichols-v-state-ala-1958.