Stephens v. State

284 S.W. 17, 171 Ark. 271, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 433
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedMay 31, 1926
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 284 S.W. 17 (Stephens v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Stephens v. State, 284 S.W. 17, 171 Ark. 271, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 433 (Ark. 1926).

Opinion

Wood, J.

On the tenth, day of June, 1925, the grand jury of Clay County returned into court an indictment against Ed Stephens in two counts, the first count charging him with selling liquor and the second with the crime of procuring liquor. He was placed on trial on both counts.

Witness Crow testified on direct examination in substance that he’was a traveling salesman in 1923, and lived in Missouri. He traveled in Missouri and Arkansas. Some time in October, 1923, he stopped at the St. James Hotel in Corning, Arkansas. He was in a room with another party, and they sent out and got a quart of whiskey. The appellant brought the whiskey to the room and received pay for it, and then went away. On cross-examination witness was asked when he first told of the occurrence, and stated that it was last summer before the grand jury — at the last June term of the grand jury. He hadn’t thought of it or mentioned it since it occurred until then. There was nothing to draw witness ’ particular attention to it, and he hadn’t discussed it with anybody. Witness was then asked: “Q. In other words, it was nearly two years after it occurred before you ever said anything to anybody about it? A. I don’t remember having mentioned that incident to any one. I don’t know whether it was two years or not.” The witness was further asked if there was not some little had feeling or something of a misunderstanding between witness and Stephens at the time he appeared before the grand jury, and he replied, “Well, you can’t hardly call it bad feeling. I felt like I was mistreated by Mr. Bill Stephens.” He was further asked if he had had any misunderstanding or any hard feeling toward any of the Stephens family, and he answered, “Well, really, no hard feelings.” He never had any trouble with the appellant.

On redirect examination the witness, over the objection of the appellant, was asked by the prosecuting attorney the following questions: “Mr. Crow, did you go voluntarily before the grand jury?” He answered, “No sir.” The witness stated that he was sick one time, and the court didn’t understand it, and fined witness for contempt of court because witness Avasn’t there. He further stated that he was subpoenaed to appear before' the grand jury. The appellant moved to strike all the testimony with reference to his. appearance before the grand jury. The court overruled the motion and announced in doing so that “the jury will consider that as going to the interest of the witness only.” The appellant duly .excepted to the ruling of the court.

On further re-cross examination the appellant, among other questions, asked the witness if he was not present here under bond, if he hadn’t been attached, and the witness answered these questions in the affirmative.

Everett Powers, another witness for the State, testified that he now lived in St. Louis but had formerly lived in Corning, Arkansas; that he had lived there practically all of his life and had known the appellant all of that time. He was friendly with the appellant — never had any falling out with him. He bought whiskey from appellant in 1924 in Corning and paid him $1.25 for a pint. This witness, on cross-examination, among other questions, was asked, “When did you come back as a witness here to this court, to attend this term? A. Well — -you mean when they brought me back? Q. Did some one bring you back? A. Yes sir.” Witness was asked where he was at the time they brought him back, and stated that he lived in St. Louis, and was there with his wife keeping house when the officer came for him and brought him back here and placed him in jail on a charge of wife desertion. On redirect examination the witness was asked if he knew when the charge of wife desertion was lodged against him, and he answered that he did not. He further stated that, when he went to St. Louis about a year before, he left his wife in Corning, and witness didn’t know who preferred the charge of wife desertion against him. On re-cross examination he was asked if they served a writ on him for wife desertion, and he stated that was what they brought him back for. He further stated on redirect examination that he waived extradition and volunteered to come back.

The bill of exceptions shows that the appellant objected to all of his testimony, and that the objection was overruled, and the appellant duly excepted to the ruling of the court.

Witness Holloway was called as a witness for the State and testified that he was the deputy prosecuting attorney of the county; that he filed information against Everett Powers charging him with wife abandonment on February 21, 1925, at the instance of his wife, and that Powers was brought back on that charge. The appellant objected to the testimony and asked that the same be stricken from the record. The court overruled the objection and motion, stating, “Well, there is some testimony brought in here as to why he -came back. It may -shed some light on that, and the jury will consider it only for that purpose, if they find it does shed any light on it.” To this ruling the appellant duly excepted.

Among instructions given by. the court were the following: “No. 7. The phrase ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ should be defined to you, and it means that, after a full and fair consideration of all of the facts and circumstances introduced in evidence before you, there naturally arises in your mind, either out of the evidence, by reason thereof or on account of a lack of it, a substantial doubt of the defendant’s guilt. That is what is meant by a reasonable doubt. It does not mean an imaginary or far-fetched doubt to be conjured up by you in order to enable some guilty man to escape jtlst punishment, but is intended as a shield to protect the innocent from unjust conviction. It is a doubt that is reasonable -and one upon which you would be willing to act in any matter of highest concern to you with which you might be confronted in your every day walks of life.”

The bill of exceptions recites the following: “Everett Powers had testified that he-lived in St. Louis, Missouri, and had regular employment there, and that his wife was living with him and even keeping house, and that they had been living there one year when the deputy sheriff of Clay County came after him on Saturday morning before the present term of court convened on the following Monday. The attorneys for the defendant in their argument referred to this testimony and criticised the procedure on the part of the State. The prosecuting attorney, in answer to the argument of the attorneys for the defendant, stated, ‘ C. Everett Powers, after he was a witness, had run off to keep from testifying against the defendant.’ The defendant objected to this statement of the prosecuting attorney, and the court said to the jury that they were the sole judges of the evidence, and the defendant excepted to the ruling of- the court.” The-jury returned a verdict finding the defendant guilty of selling liquor and fixing his punishment at imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a period of one year. The court pronounced judgment of 'Sentence in accordance with the verdict, from which judgment is this appeal.

There was no prejudicial error in the rilling of the trial court in permitting the witness Crow to testify, in substance that he did not voluntarily appear before the grand jury, but was subpoenaed as a witness.

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Related

Duncan v. State
27 S.W.2d 99 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1930)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
284 S.W. 17, 171 Ark. 271, 1926 Ark. LEXIS 433, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stephens-v-state-ark-1926.