Powell v. State

59 So. 530, 5 Ala. App. 75, 1912 Ala. App. LEXIS 135
CourtAlabama Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 1912
StatusPublished
Cited by33 cases

This text of 59 So. 530 (Powell v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alabama Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Powell v. State, 59 So. 530, 5 Ala. App. 75, 1912 Ala. App. LEXIS 135 (Ala. Ct. App. 1912).

Opinion

PELHAM, J. —

The defendant Avas convicted of manslaughter. It Avas shoAvn by the evidence, without conflict, that the defendant and deceased Avere on the top of adjoining box cars of a freight train on the Southern Raihvay, Avhile going betAveen Pell City and Riverside, when the defendant shot and killed the deceased. The killing Avas in the nighttime, and the defendant Avas a special officer of the railroad company and on duty riding on the train for the purpose of guarding it from intruders and wrongdoers. The deceased Avas not a member of the train crew, and not shown to have been [79]*79rightfully on the train. The defendant contends, and the tendency of the evidence introduced in his behalf is to the effect that, having discovered the deceased, on top of the car, he called to deceased, notifying him of the fact that he (defendant) was an officer, and demanding his surrender; that the deceased refused to surrender, and resisted arrest. The defendant testified that by the light flashed from the fire box on the engine, when the door was opened, he saw something bright, like a pistol, in the hand of the deceased, who was at the time about 20 or 30 feet away on top of the next box car in the train to the one on which the defendant was standing. The defendant further testified that the deceased appeared to be “on his all fours” near the edge of the box car; that the deceased “brought the pistol down pointing toward me (him),” and that he (defendant) called to him (deceased) to put his hands up; that the light from the open fire box was shut off; and that he raised his gun and fired. An examination of the body of deceased disclosed, and it Avas the uncontradicted evidence, that deceased Avas shot in the back just to the left of his spinal cord, between the tenth and eleventh ribs, and that the wound ranged upAvards. A more extended summary of the evidence is not necessary to an understanding of the rulings and opinion.

The bill of exceptions, after setting out certain evidence, in narrative form, of the state’s witness R. C. Brown, contains the statement that the defendant objected to certain parts of the statement of the Avitness, and moved to exclude the statement. The defendant cannot be alloAved to experiment by waiting until the witness has giAren a responsive ansAver to a question, not-objected to, and then move to exclude the answer, if not satisfactory or unfavorable to him. In the absence oían objection to a question, it is not error to overrule. [80]*80the defendant’s motion to exclude the answer. — W. U. Telegraph Co. v. Bowman, 141 Ala. 175, 37 South. 493; Dowling v. State, 151 Ala. 131, 44 South. 403; B. R. L. & P. Co. v. Taylor, 152 Ala. 105, 44 South. 580. Objections must be made to questions before answers are given. — Lewis v. State, 121 Ala. 1, 25 South. 1017; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Bogue (Sup.) 58 South. 392.

The court properly allowed the witness Brown to state, “the balance that was said there,’" having' reference to a conversation between the defendant and the witness at Riverside not long after the killing in which the defendant made certain statements that were shown to be voluntary. What was said by both parties was relevant and admissible for the purpose of connecting the statements made by the defendant and rendering them intelligible. It is also permissible to permit, a witness to state what he said in the presence of the accused, if the statement involves such an accusation as calls for a denial. — Kirby v. State, 89 Ala. 63, 71, 8 South. 110; Raymond v. State, 154 Ala. 1, 45 South. 895. The statement of the witness, addressed to the defendant: “You said he had a revolver drawn on you; how did you shoot him in the back?” — was certainly such an accusation as called for a denial.

There could be no prejudicial error in refusing to allow the defendant to show by his witness Morrison that the defendant’s employer, the Southern Railway Company, shortly before the homicide, had been suffering from train robberies. It could only be competent, if at all, for the purpose of showing that the defendant, at the time of the homicide, was on the train in the performance of his duties as a special officer to look after train robbers and other wrong-doers, and this was not disputed. Even if this evidence should be deemed proper and admissible, the ruling Avould not constitute [81]*81reversible error; for the witness Caraway was permitted to testify to this fact, and stated that there had been several train robberies shortly before the night of the killing and that he and the defendant were on the train that night as special officers, for the purpose of preventing the occurrence of such things. This evidence was uncontradicted, and the .exclusion of the same testimony by the witness Morrison, if error, would not be injurious or prejudicial. — Code, 1907, § 6264; Murphy v. State, 118 Ala. 137, 23 South. 719; Crain v. State, 166 Ala. 1, 52 South. 31; Phillips v. State, 162 Ala. 14, 50 South. 194; Morris v. State (Sup.) 39 South. 608, 611;

The point is made by counsel for defendant that the court’s refusal to allow the defendant to show by the conductor of the train, Cochran, that the deceased was not on the train with the knowledge or consent of Cochran, was injurious to defendant because it precluded the defendant from showing that he had a right to arrest a wrongdoer for the offense committed in his presence although not an officer. But the fact that the defendant was an officer with the right to make arrests was not controverted, and his right to do so was not confined to the authority given under section 6273 of the Code to private persons. It was shown by the evidence that the deceased was not a member of the train crew, and no right or authority for deceased being on the train seems to have been insisted upon, and the case was treated throughout, so far as we can see from the record, on the theory that the defendant was an officer authorized to make arrests and that the deceased was riding on the train without authority — a trespasser. Appellant’s counsel in brief treats the case in this light and speaks of the deceased as a trespasser at the time as if this was uncontroverted on the trial.

[82]*82The court cannot be put in error for refusing charge No. 1, requested in writing by the defendant; for it fails to predicate the constituent elements of self-defense, and therefore submits a question of law to the determination of the jury. Charges hypothesizing self-defense in general terms, which omit to set out the constituent elements of self-defense, have been condemned by the Supreme Court many times.' — Roden v. State, 97 Ala. 54, 12 South. 419; Miller v. State, 107 Ala. 40, 19 South. 37; Gilmore v. State, 126 Ala. 20, 28 South. 595; Adams v. State, 133 Ala. 166, 31 South. 851; Smith v. State, 130 Ala. 95, 30 South. 432; McGhee v. State, 59 South. 573. The same principle involved, i. e., submitting a question of law to the jury, has been also passed upon by this court. — Dungan v. State, 2 Ala. App. 235, 57 South. 117. The case cited by the defendant’s counsel (Smith v. State, 68 Ala. 424) in support of this charge has been in'effect practically overruled several times, and expressly so in Greer v. State, 156 Ala. 15, 19, 47 South. 300.

Charges Nos.

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Bluebook (online)
59 So. 530, 5 Ala. App. 75, 1912 Ala. App. LEXIS 135, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powell-v-state-alactapp-1912.