Walls and Mitchell v. State

109 S.W.2d 143, 194 Ark. 578, 1937 Ark. LEXIS 391
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 4, 1937
DocketNo. CR 4055
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 109 S.W.2d 143 (Walls and Mitchell 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
Walls and Mitchell v. State, 109 S.W.2d 143, 194 Ark. 578, 1937 Ark. LEXIS 391 (Ark. 1937).

Opinion

Mehaeey, J.

Appellants were convicted in the Pike circuit court of the crime of robbery, and their punishment fixed at three years in the state penitentiary. The case is here on appeal.

There are but two questions argued by the appellants. It is first contended that the court erred in ad■mitting in evidence the transcribed testimony of Betty Lon Bryant, given by her in tbe preliminary bearing. There was an examining trial by the justice of the peace, and Betty Lou Bryant was present and testified, and the defendants were present and represented by an attorney.’ This testimony was transcribed by the stenographer and introduced in evidence over the objection of appellants.

Mrs. Verdeeb'a LeLongy testified that she worked for the prosecuting attorney, and on April 22, 1937, took the testimony in the justice of the peace court of Thompson township, Pike county, Arkansas, in a case in which the state of Arkansas Was plaintiff and Altus Walls and Roy Mitchell defendants, and took the testimony of Betty Lon Bryant. Witness was sworn before she testified. The pages from 1 to 17 and about- half of 18, is the truly transcribed testimony of Betty Lou Bryant in the cause.

The testimony was then offered and appellants’ attorneys objected to the introduction of it, first, because the Constitution provides: accused should be confronted with witnesses and they are here on trial and not confronted with witnesses; that it was not a proper showing that witness is out of the jurisdiction of the court. The court then asked if counsel for appellants, appeared at the hearing before the justice of the peace and cross-examined this witness. It was then stated that John Owens, lawyer for appellants, cross-examined Betty Lou Bryant, whereupon the court overruled the objections and admitted the testimony.

The evidence shows that Betty Lon Bryant lived in Spartanburg, South Carolina; that some days prior to the examination in the justice of the peace court she left Spartanburg, South Carolina, and arrived at Mur-freesboro about 5:30 or 6:00 o’clock on Sunday; that she was on her way to Fort Worth, Texas. After the trial in the justice of the peace court, on the same day, the sheriff testified that he served a subpoena on Betty Lou Bryant warning her to appear in the Pike circuit court, and that she is not here. The sheriff did not know where she was, hut said she left Murfreesboro the next day after the trial.

The fact that she was on her way to Fort Worth, Texas, and did not live in the state of Arkansas, and no one knew where she was, was a sufficient showing to make her evidence taken before the examining magistrate competent in the trial in the circuit court. As to whether the foundation was sufficient was a matter in the discretion of the trial court, and- he did not abuse his discretion in admitting the testimony.

Initiated Act No. 3, 1936, expressly provides that when a witness has been examined in the magistrate court and his testimony taken, as provided in said act, the transcript of his testimony shall be admitted in evidence upon the trial of the defendant, for any offense arising out of the criminal transaction for which he is held, either on ■behalf of the state or of the defendant, if for any reason the testimony of the witness cannot be obtained at the trial, and the court is satisfied that the inability to procure such testimony is not due to the fault of the party offering the transcript in evidence.

The act, also, provides that this evidence may be introduced when the former witness is dead, beyond the jurisdiction of the court, has become insane since the former trial or examination, or when, for any reason, the former witness may not be available. But long before the adoption of this initiated act, this court had repeatedly held that under circumstances similar to the circumstances in this case, secondary evidence was admissible.

This court recently said: ‘ ‘ This court is committed to the doctrine that secondary evidence is admissible in the same case between the same parties if the witness who testified originally is beyond the jurisdiction of the court, without the procurement or connivance of the party seeking to introduce the testimony, and if the address of the witness was not or could not, by reasonable diligence, have been obtained in time to take his deposition, piovided the .adverse party had an opportunity to cross-examine the witness when his original evidence was given; and it is within the sound discretion of the trial court to determine whether the proper foundation had been laid to admit the secondary evidence of an absent witness.” Pine Bluff Co. v. Bobbitt, 174 Ark. 41, 294 S. W. 1002; Clinton v. Estes, 20 Ark. 216; Shackelford v. State, 33 Ark. 539; McTighe v. Herman, 42 Ark. 285; Ry. Co. v. Henderson, 57 Ark. 402, 21 S. W. 878; Vaughan v. State, 58 Ark. 353, 24 S. W. 885; Kansas & Texas Coal Co. v. Galloway, 71 Ark. 351, 74 S. W. 521, 100 Am. St. Rep. 79; Wimberly v. State, 90 Ark. 514, 119 S. W. 668.

It is true the Constitution provides that the accused shall be confronted with the witnesses against him; but it has been uniformly held by this court that the testimony of a witness taken at an examining trial, where the defendant was present and had the opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses, may be given in evidence on the trial of the defendant, where such witness at the time of the trial is dead, or. is out of the jurisdiction of the court, or where his whereabouts cannot be learned, without any violation of the constitutional right of the accused to be confronted with the witnesses against him. Williams v. State, 156 Ark. 205, 246 S. W. 503.

If initiated act No. 3, 1936, had never been adopted, still the secondary evidence in this case would have been proper, as this court has frequently held. •

It is contended by appellants, however, that they were denied the privilege of cross-examining the witness, and for that reason the evidence was incompetent. When witness, Betty Lou Bryant, was being cross-examined in the examining court, she testified that she went to Gains-ville the first night from Spartanburg, then to Atlanta, and from there to Sanford, and had dinner that day. Appellants’ attorney asked, “How much did you spend for that meal?” The court sustained objection, and attorney for appellants stated: “We offer to show by witness that she left Spartanburg, South Carolina, and went from there to Gainsville, Georgia, and then to Atlanta, Georgia, from Atlanta to some other place in Georgia, and that she had only $22 when she left Spar-tanburg, South. Carolina, and that on the way down here she spent all the money she left Spartanburg, South Carolina, with;” No other objection was made, and no request to cross-examine witness, except to show that she had spent all her money.

She, herself, testified that she had $22 when she left Spartanburg. There could of course, be no reason to prove this on cross-examination, because it was undisputed. She further testified that she had $10 when she got to Murfreesboro, bought some beer and sandwiches, and had $8.50 left. Not only did she testify that she had the money when she got to Murfreesboro, but all the witnesses that knew anything about the matter at all, testified that she bought beer and sandwiches and had the money to pay for them.

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Bluebook (online)
109 S.W.2d 143, 194 Ark. 578, 1937 Ark. LEXIS 391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walls-and-mitchell-v-state-ark-1937.