State v. Staley

229 N.W. 373, 56 S.D. 495, 1930 S.D. LEXIS 26
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 28, 1930
DocketFile No. 6596
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 229 N.W. 373 (State v. Staley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota 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. Staley, 229 N.W. 373, 56 S.D. 495, 1930 S.D. LEXIS 26 (S.D. 1930).

Opinions

BURCH, J.

This case is 'before us on rehearing. The former opinion is reported in 54 S. D. 552, 223 N. W. 943. Therein the trial court was reversed for admitting evidence of the conduct of accused following the homicide. Such evidence covered the conduct of accused on the same day but subsequent to the shooting of Wasson and involved other criminal acts which appeared to this court to be wholly disconnected from the act of accused for which he was on trial. The evidence is fully set out in the first opinion, and the reader is referred to that opinion (223 N. W. 943) for the facts.

On rehearing the Attorney General argues that such evidence has a direct bearing upon the act for which accused is on trial; that the conduct of accused during the afternoon both before and after the homicide discloses a mental state that may be shown in order that the homicidal act may be understood and properly characterized. The fact of the killing by accused, the manner of its accomplishment, and the circumstances immediately surrounding the act, are with the exception of a few details conclusively shown by the state and are corroborated by accused. Accused admitting the homicide says it was justifiable in self-defense. He would have it appear from the circumstances immediately surrounding the homicide that he was innocently within the inclosure surrounding Wasson’s lands and that Wasson came to him, provoked a quarrel, and attacked him with a knife, forcing him in self-defense to take the life of Wasson. Whether Wasson drew a knife or made any attack is in dispute. As bearing on the quetsion of who was the aggressor and the intent of accused in killing deceased, it is claimed the conduct of accused from the time he took the gun (a sixshooter) to the time of his arrest shows that accused left his home with the deliberate plan of gunning for a number of his neighbors, and that proof of such plan has a direct -bearing in proof of the character of the homicide, and was therefore competent. In our former opinion v?e concluded the conduct of accused subsequent to the homicide did not tend to prove the intent and mental attitude of accused at and prior to the homicide and was therefore incompetent and prejudicial to accused tending only to show his quarrel-32 — Vol. 56, s. D. [498]*498some disposition with no direct probative value on the issues involved. Not being fully satisfied with our position, we granted a rehearing and now direct our attention to such evidence as directly bearing on the issue involved. If accused’s conduct subsequent to the homicide is directly connected with and tends to' prove a preconceived plan and its continued execution in which the homicide is but one of several acts planned, it may then be shown to characterize the homicidal act as unlawful and a part of a premeditated criminal plan.

In State v. Deliso, 75 N. J. Law, 808, 69 A. 218, 221, the court says: “The human passions that underlie the malice known to the law do not necessarily arise at the instant of crime. They have a natural history of their own — a birth, a growth, and a maturity. Hence the distinction to be borne in mind between evidence that traces this natural phenomenon to its criminal debacle and testimony as to isolated and entirely unconnected transactions is that the latter merely tends to show the criminal character and predisposition of the accused, whereas the former has a direct relevancy to his state of mind when the given offense was committed.”

It is the Attorney General’s contention that this evidence here considered belongs to the former class and directly proves accused’s state of mind at the time of the homicide. He says: “This was defendant’s busy afternoon. He started out after dinner, not to get a rabbit or find the colt, but to conduct a campaign. His plan was to settle with his neighbors with whom he had differences or against whom he bore grudges. As he stated to Grotta he was ‘not going to run over any more.’ He carried his revolver all day to aid in the execution of his plan. He was looking for trouble. He had ‘run amuck.’ His plan was an aggressive one. He sought to provoke trouble. The testimony objected to was all material and relevant, therefore, as showing the state of mind, motive, design, malice and intention of the defendant in the commission of the crime charged. It all tends to show the degree of the crime charged and shows that the homicide was committed without justification. Also, that the difficulty was brought about by the defendant so that he may not urge any right of self-defense. The assaults were in quick succession, a series, pails of one design, executed in one campaign, with one mind and purpose.” Does the evidence tend to prove such a state of mind ? Accused thought it worth [499]*499while to explain his reason for taking his gun, his reason for being in the inclosure, and his apparently accidental encounter with deceased in an innocent and lawful enterprise. Do his acts belie his words and show that his acts were not lawful and innocent; that he took his gun, not to shoot rabbits, as he claims, but to shoot neighbors; that he entered the inclosure to assert a fancied right to travel any portion of the highway, although the portion he chose to use was not needed for his convenience in travel, was obstructed by an inclosure of deceased which he would have to partially destroy in so using the highway, while one-half of the highway was open, unobstructed, with an open and used road much easier and more convenient for accused’s use; that he chose the way he took in the hope of an encounter with deceased, intending to enforce his asserted right with the gun in the event of such an encounter; that after the anticipated encounter and killing of deceased, he continued without change of purpose to seek other neighbors with whom he had differences, provoked quarrels with them, and attempted to enforce his claims with the gun where his demands were not readily accorded him? We think the evidence as a whole does tend to prove such a plan and tends to show his mental attitude and intent at the time of the homicide. His acts disclose a consistent use of the gun in three or four hostile encounters, and his intent in doing so is not alone supported by the presumption that he intended what he did, but is supported by his own statement to the effect that he was not going to be run over any more. On this theory the evidence was admissible and our former opinion holding otherwise is reversed and withdrawn.

The principle upon which this evidence is admissible is supported by the following cases: O’Brien v. Commonwealth, 115 Ky. 608, 74.S. W. 666; Whitney v. Commonwealth, 74 S. W. 257, 24 Ky. Law Rep. 2524; State v. Deliso, 75 N. J. Law, 808, 69 A. 218; People v. Selby, 198 Cal. 426, 245 P. 426; People v. Walters, 98 Cal. 138, 32 P. 864; Hoxie v. State, 114 Ga. 19, 39 S. E. 944; Little v. State, 39 Tex. Civ R. 654, 47 S. W. 984; People v. Craig, 111 Cal. 460, 44 P. 186; Bowman v. United States, 50 App. D. C. 90, 267 P. 648; Milton v. State, 40 Fla. 251, 24 So. 60; State v. King; 111 Kan. 140, 206 P. 883, 22 A. D. R. 1006; State v. La Rose, 54 Or. 555, 104 P. 299; Wigmore on Evidence, vol 1, § 363.

[500]*500Having now decided that the- evidence objected to was direct upon the issue oí intent and therefore admissible, it becomes necessary to consider other assignments of error urged in appellant’s brief. We disposed of one covering the denial of a requested instruction in our first opinion which we think was rightly decided. See 54 S. D. 552, 223 N. W. 943.

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Bluebook (online)
229 N.W. 373, 56 S.D. 495, 1930 S.D. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-staley-sd-1930.