State v. Fuller

85 P. 369, 34 Mont. 12, 1906 Mont. LEXIS 37
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 19, 1906
DocketNo. 2,230
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 85 P. 369 (State v. Fuller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Fuller, 85 P. 369, 34 Mont. 12, 1906 Mont. LEXIS 37 (Mo. 1906).

Opinions

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE BRANTLY

delivered the opinion of the court.

On November 7, 1904, defendant was by information charged with the crime of murder, and thereafter, having been tried upon his plea of not guilty thereto, was convicted of murder of the first degree and sentenced to death. He has appealed from the judgment and from an order denying him a new trial.

The brief of counsel assigns many rulings and decisions of the court, which, it is alleged, prejudiced the defendant in his substantial rights. Of these only a few are sufficiently meritorious to require special notice. The following brief statement of the facts will be sufficient to make clear the contentions made: It appears that the homicide grew out of a grudge of long standing between the defendant and Henry Gallahan, the deceased. The defendant had repeatedly stated that he intended to kill Gallahan at the first opportunity. He made this statement to the deceased himself in the presence of one of the witnesses, a few days prior to the killing. Both men occupied cabins a short distance west of the city of Butte. About 6 o’clock on the evening of October 24, 1904, two of the witnesses going east into the city, along one of its principal streets near its western outskirts, met the deceased going west, near where he was killed. One of these, two or three minutes after passing the deceased, saw the defendant standing be[16]*16hind the eorner of a school building “peeking” in the direction the deceased was going. A short time later the two, the defendant and the deceased, were observed further west standing a few yards apart on the hillside. No one was near enough to them to hear what, if anything, was said by either of them. The defendant first fired at the deceased. They then exchanged shots rapidly, both using revolvers, until the deceased fell mortally wounded by a shot in the head. The defendant then started west, but stopped, returned to where the deceased was lying, slashed his throat twice with a knife or other sharp instrument, severing the jugular vein, and then fled, escaping in the dusk of the evening. Those who witnessed the shooting were from two hundred, and fifty to six hundred feet away; two of them, Semmons and Almquist, pursued the defendant for some distance. Though there was not sufficient light to enable him to distinguish the features of a man clearly, Almquist recognized him. Later on the same evening he was arrested. On the following day the undersheriff took the shoes worn by the defendant at the time of the arrest and compared them with footprints found leading from the place of the shooting to within a short distance of defendant’s cabin. The impression made by the shoes corresponded exactly with these footprints. The evidence is that the undersheriff told the jailer to get defendant’s shoes and that he went and took them off defendant in the corridor of the jail where he then was.

Gladstone Bray had witnessed the affray, but, though his name had been given to the coroner, he had not been called to testify at the inquest, nor had the county attorney been informed of the fact that he was an eyewitness until, on the evening before the trial began, he gave the information himself. When the trial opened, this fact having been made to appear, his name was by permission of the court indorsed upon the information. He was thereupon called and sworn as a witness. In one place in his testimony he positively identified the defendant as the man who was seen running from the scene of the shooting. On cross-examination, being questioned how he came to be called as a witness, he stated: “I did not [17]*17go to the comity attorney and tell him I wanted to testify in the case. I just went np there and told him.” He was then asked: “Did you send anyone else to him to tell him that you wanted to testify?” The county attorney having interposed a general objection, the witness was not permitted to answer. This ruling is assigned as error, because, it is said, the answer would “perhaps” have shown the interest of the witness in the outcome of the case, and hence should have gone to the jury as reflecting upon his credibility.

The interest and feeling of a witness are always material elements to be weighed and considered by the jury in determining the credibility of his story. It does not appear, however, from any offer made by counsel what the answer of the witness would have been, nor that they expected to contradict him if his answer had been in the negative. The witness had already stated that he had volunteered his evidence, thus evincing a willingness to see the defendant convicted; and if it be conceded that the ruling of the court was technically wrong as an undue restriction of the cross-examination, as we think it was, yet an affirmative answer would not have added further evidence of his interest. Evidently, since counsel did not prosecute the inquiry further or make an offer to prove, they were satisfied that they had obtained from the witness all the evidence they could showing interest. We think the ruling, though technically erroneous, was without prejudice.

The same witness in another place of his cross-examination testified: “Q. You don’t know who fired them [the shots] of your own knowledge? A. I knew it was Fuller and Gallahan. Q. How do you know? A. Because I heard the people talking about it.” Contention is made that this portion of his evidence is hearsay, and that the court erred in refusing to strike it out. The court did at first refuse to strike it out, but a few moments later, upon attention being called to it by counsel, the whole of it was stricken out and the jury admonished not to consider it. Further, the court submitted an instruction calling the attention of the jury specifically to the [18]*18fact that certain testimony had been stricken out and that they must bear this constantly in mind during their deliberations, and not make use of it in making up their verdict. The prior erroneous ruling was thus fully corrected and the contention of counsel is not sustained by the record.

The testimony of the undersheriff, touching his comparison of defendant’s shoes with the footprints leading from the place of the shooting, together with the shoes, was admitted, over objection by counsel that the use of this character of evidence was a direct violation of the constitutional prohibition that “no person shall be compelled to testify against himself in a criminal proceeding” (Constitution, Montana, Article III, section 18), and also of the guaranty that “the people shall be secure in their persons, papers, homes and effects f-rom unreasonable searches and seizures” (Constitution, Montana, Article III, section 7). Counsel also rely upon Articles V and IY of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States, which, respectively, embody substantially the same provisions.

We do not think the evidence shows that what was done by the undersheriff was without the defendant’s consent. From this point of view the defendant may not complain; for the privilege guaranteed by the first provision of the Constitution cited may be waived by consent, either expressly or by implication. Otherwise a defendant who has- offered himself as a witness in his own behalf would not be subject to cross-examination bringing out criminatory facts, should he conclude not to submit to it. The rule is, as pointed out by Mr. Wigmore in his work on Evidence (Vol. 3, sec. 2276), that when the defendant offers himself as a witness in his own behalf, he waives his privilege as to all matters pertinent to the issues involved.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 P. 369, 34 Mont. 12, 1906 Mont. LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fuller-mont-1906.