State v. Harris

32 Ohio Law. Abs. 221, 1940 Ohio App. LEXIS 1189
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 20, 1940
DocketNo. 1616
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 32 Ohio Law. Abs. 221 (State v. Harris) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Harris, 32 Ohio Law. Abs. 221, 1940 Ohio App. LEXIS 1189 (Ohio Ct. App. 1940).

Opinion

[222]*222OPINION

BY THE COURT:

This cause, had its inception in the Court of Common Pleas, wherein Eugene Harris, alias Floyd McAlphine, was tried and convicted without recommendation of mercy upon an indictment charging that on the 13th day of December, 1939, the said Eugene Harris “purposely and willfully killed L. J,' Rice, a police officer of the City of Dayton, Ohio, while said L. J. Rice, was in the discharge of' his duties as police officer.”

A motion for new' trial was made setting out eight grounds. This motion was submitted and overruled and the defendant sentenced to be executed. The defendant gave notice of appeal to this court from the judgment of the court below.

The first assignment nf error is to the effect that the court submitted three verdicts to the jury, one of “guilty as charged in the indictment”, the second, “guilty as charged in the indictment with a recommendation of mercy” and the third, “not guilty”. The defendant complains that in view of the defendant’s testimony of an accidental dischare of his pistol, the court should have submitted the question of manslaughter.

The second assignment is that the court erred in refusing to permit defendant to show that a prior killing by him on the same day of one Scotty Conner, was in self-defense.

The third assignment is misconduct of the prosecuting attorney in that in his final argument the prosecutor indulged in impropriety to the prejudice of the defendant.

These several assignments of error will be considered in order.

The indictment was based on §12402-1 GC, charging murder in the first degree for the killing of a police officer While in the discharge of his duties.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

A short statement of the incidents leading to the killing of the police officer will be of value.

The defendant was an escaped convict from the penitentiary of Alabama where he had been sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder committed when he was 16 years of age. He had served five years of this sentence. From Alabama he came to Dayton, Ohio, where he had resided about 18 months before the returning of the indictment. While in Dayton he kept company with Fannie Hopkins and had as a rival for her affections one Scotty Conner. On the 29th of September the date named in the indictment, while calling on his lady friend and while on her premises an altercation occurred between him and Conner during which defendant shot and killed Conner. He then went to 513 College Street, to an upstairs apartment, where the shooting of the officer occurred.

Sergeant Rice, a colored officer, together with two white officers, entered the upstairs apartment to search for the defendant whom they suspected of the killing of Conner. Defendant had concealed himself in an unlighted bathroom. Shortly after his arrival, Rice, the officer, entered the bathroom while his fellow officers were in other rooms. The defendant sought to escape from the bathroom into an adjoining ■ bedroom and the shooting commenced during which at least seven shots were fired. Sergeant Rice was struck by one of the bullets and died several days later.

EVIDENCE ADDUCED AT TRIAL.

The evidence sufficiently covering the question in issue was testimony given by the defendant that he fired only one shot and that this one shot was fired when his gun was accidentally discharged when the officer struck his hand in a scuffle in the dark. The state claimed he fired two shots, admitting that the officers fired all the rest. The defendant had a 32-20 revolver and all the guns of the officers were of 38 caliber.

Before the court commenced his general charge to the jury, counsel for defendant requested a charge upon the subject of manslaughter and that the court submit a manslaughter verdict. [223]*223This the court refused to do either as a special charge or a charge included in the general charge. After the general charge, counsel renewed his request for a charge on the subject of manslaughter and reserved a special exception to the court’s refusal.

The testimony of the defendant which counsel maintains requires a manslaughter charge was his admission upon the witness stand, when he states in substance, that he went into the dark bathroom and when he heard someone knock on the kitchen door he stood near the bathroom door. While he was in the bathroom with the door slightly ajar, someone rushed in calling, “Come out or I will kill you”. Thereupon the defendant grabbed the officer and pulled him out of his way with his left hand. The officer was standing in the door, the defendant having “snatched” him on his (the defendant’s) side, pulling him into the bathroom. The defendant took his revolver from his pocket after he had pulled the officer into the bathroom. After pulling the officer with his left hand, he ran toward the door and fell on his knees and someone from out-side the bathroom fired a shot. He then endeavored to run out of the bathroom door and while arising from his stooping posture, the officer hit his right hand that held the gun end knocked it up. He then ran through the middle room out of the door of the front room and was shot twice by the officers. He sought to escape but was later captured. He says that he fired only one shot. There was one officer only in the bathroom. He had owned the gun he used about eight months. He admitted on cross-examination that he heard a woman say they were officers when they came into the house just about a minute before the shooting, and that at the time of the shooting he knew they were officers. He further admits that at the time he “snatched” the officer he had his gun in his hand getting it out of his pocket when he got hold of the officer and after knowing that he was an officer. He maintains the shooting was arcr'ental, occurring not in the bathroom but in the adjacent bedroom. The witness made a physical demonstration as to how the officer had struck him and how the gun was fired. The matter is sufficient to exhibit the claim of the defendant as to how the shooting occurred. There is a controversy as to whether the defendant fired one or two shots and also some effort to show that the bullet that pierced the officer was not a 32-20 bullet. A statement made by defendant immediately after his arrest was introduced by the state substantially as his oral testimony.

THE CHARGE.

Before the court delivered the general charge, counsel for defendant stated as follows:

“I wa.nt the record to show before the court starts charging the jury that defendant’s counsel requested the court to charge on the subject of manslaughter and assault and battery and also to give to the jury Verdicts of manslaughter and assault and battery.”

The court made no ruling upon this request, but after some incidental matters delivered his general charge, the pertinent part of which, so far as relates to the first assignment of error may be summarized:

In order to find the defendant guilty of the charge contained in the indictment you must find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant purposely and willfully with intention of killing, fired the bullet which struck L. J, Rice, together with all the other elements of the crime of First Degree Murder heretofore enumerated;"

If you find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree, then you should return against said defendant a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree;

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Related

State v. Hill
370 N.E.2d 775 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
32 Ohio Law. Abs. 221, 1940 Ohio App. LEXIS 1189, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-harris-ohioctapp-1940.