State v. Whitsett

134 S.W. 555, 232 Mo. 511, 1911 Mo. LEXIS 26
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedFebruary 14, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 134 S.W. 555 (State v. Whitsett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Whitsett, 134 S.W. 555, 232 Mo. 511, 1911 Mo. LEXIS 26 (Mo. 1911).

Opinion

BURGESS, J.

At the October term, 1909, of the circuit court of Bay county, under an information charging him with murder in the first degree for the killing of Albert Albright, the defendant was convicted of murder in the second degree, and his punishment assessed by the jury at imprisonment in the penitentiary for thirty years. From the judgment of conviction defendant appeals to this court, and assigns error.

Albert Albright, the deceased, was a farmer and school teacher, living in the northwest part of Ray county. For some months prior to his death he had been teaching school at a place about four miles north of his home. On the 29th day of October, 1908, about four o’clock in.the afternoon, he left his school, and, as was his custom, drove towards home in a buggy. About 6:30 that evening, he was traveling south along the public road, known as the “Slip-up” road, and [515]*515when about 210 feet northwest of the residence of William Keene he was shot from ambush, and his body was found on the public roadside, pierced by five bullet wounds. There was no witness to the tragedy, but neighbors heard the report of the shotgun at the time, as well as the noise of a team running away. A little north of where the body was discovered were found the hat and whip of the deceased, and a short distance further north were found gun-wads scattered in the public road. There were some trees and underbrush on the east side of the road, near the scene of the killing, and also on the east side near and opposite the point where the gun-wads were found was a shallow ravine containing considerable undergrowth and dead wood.

Whitsett and the deceased lived on adjoining farms, about a mile and a half distant from the home of William Keene, and had some serious difficulty over a boundary fence about two years prior to the tragedy. They had an encounter, one using a rock and the other a rifle, and Albright shot out one of Whitsett’s eyes. A few months thereafter Albright was tried in the circuit court of Ray county upon the charge of assault with intent to kill Whitsett, and was acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. The ill-feeling engendered by the trouble and strife between the two men continued, the evidence shows, until the day of Albright’s death, and the defendant made many threats against the deceased.

The defendant endeavored to prove an alibi. He did not testify at the trial, but he did testify at the preliminary hearing, and a part of his testimony given at that time was introduced by the State as admissions against him, and the defendant introduced the remainder of such testimony. According to this testimony, defendant left his home on the morning of the day the killing occurred, and went to the house of James Gulley, a neighbor, and got his shotgun, which he [516]*516loaned to Gulley some months before. He took his shotgun home, reaching there between two and three o’clock in the afternoon. He then left his home, with a pistol in his pocket, placed the shotgun in the smoke house and proceeded to the home of William Keene, where he was informed by Mrs. Keene that Mr. Keene and his grandson, Grafton Keene, had gone to Lawson. Defendant then went to the home of James Bassett, less than a quarter of a mile distant from the Keene home, and north thereof. Some time before sundown, the defendant, as he testified, parted with Mr. Bassett in a corn field, where Bassett was gathering corn and throwing it into a wagon. This corn field, as the evidence shows, lay between the Bassett and Keene homes, and the place where the men parted was less than an eighth of a mile from the scene of the killing. By actual experiment it was shown that the distance could be walked in five minutes. After parting with Mr. Bassett,. the defendant. proceeded south at an ordinary gait, to the southwest corner of the Keene house, where he turned east on the public highway, and had gone but a little distance in that direction when he heard the report of a shotgun. He turned back and went to the Keene house, where he stayed for about half an hour. While there, one Wick Bowen, a neighbor, came along and informed the people in the house that there was a man shot in the public road and that he thought he was dead. Whitsett did not go out with the others to see who the dead man was, but excused himself, saying that he could not see, and then left for his home. He further testified at the preliminary hearing that he did not know until the following morning who it was that was shot and killed, and then Grafton Keene was the person who gave him such information. On the way to the Keene residence that morning he saw and had some conversation with one John S. Carey. The defendant’s family, according to his testimony,. stayed at [517]*517the home of William Carey, a neighbor, the night of the tragedy.

The evidence on the part of the State showed that the deceased was wearing- two overcoats at the time he was shot and killed, and that there were five bullet wounds in his body, the bullets entering the left side, and, according to the testimony of a physician, coming from a southeasterly direction.

Grafton Keene testified for the State that he was at the home of his grandfather, William Keene, on the evening of October 29, 1908. Between six and seven o’clock that evening, he heard the report of a shotgun, the sound coming from a northwesterly direction, and he then heard the noise made by a team running away. He went to the door and looked out, but saw no one. A few minutes later the defendant came to the door and knocked. He was admitted by the witness. The defendant was invited, to. eat supper there, and he did so. After supper, one Wick Bowen came to the house and called for Grafton Keene, and told him that there was a man lying in the road and that he thought he was dead. The witness told Whitsett what he had just heard, and asked bim to go with him to investigate. Defendant replied, “I can’t go; it’s too dark; I can’t see.” Witness had a lamp ready at the time. The defendant, after prolonging his stay a few minutes, left for home. Keene and Bowen called on some neighbors to go with them to investigate, and when they found the body they recognized it as that of Albert Albright.

John 8. Carey testified that as the defendant was going toward the Keene home, the morning after the shooting, he accosted him (witness) and said: “The man on the hill is dead.” Upon being asked whom he meant, Whitsett replied, “Albert Albright;” This testimony is very important by reason of the fact that defendant testified at the preliminary hearing that Grafton Keene was the first person to tell [518]*518him, next morning, the name of the person killed. At the time of the conversation with Carey defendant was on his way to the Keene house, where, as he testified, he learned that Albright was the man who was shot down the evening before. Defendant on his way back from Keene’s had another conversation with the witness about the killing, and then said that Grafton Keene told him that Albright was shot in the neck. This witness also testified .that he was a witness at the preliminary examination, held at Elmira, and that while there he was asked by the defendant to change his testimony so as to make it appear that the conversation between them as to the killing of Albright was had the second time they met, as the defendant was returning from Keene’s house, and not before.

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Bluebook (online)
134 S.W. 555, 232 Mo. 511, 1911 Mo. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-whitsett-mo-1911.