Williams v. State

47 So. 2d 417, 254 Ala. 94, 1950 Ala. LEXIS 514
CourtSupreme Court of Alabama
DecidedJune 30, 1950
Docket7 Div. 56
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 47 So. 2d 417 (Williams v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. State, 47 So. 2d 417, 254 Ala. 94, 1950 Ala. LEXIS 514 (Ala. 1950).

Opinion

BROWN, Justice.

The appellant was indicted by. a grand jury in the Circuit Court of Shelby County, Alabama, for múrder in the first degree. The indictment charged “that before the finding of this indictment Howard Leon Williams, alias H. L. Williams, whose true name is to the grand jury unknown otherwise than as stated, unlawfully, and with malice aforethought, killed Ethridge Garrison Richards, alias Ethridge Richards, whose true name is to the grand jury unknown otherwise than as stated, by shooting him with a shot gun, against the peace and dignity of the State of Alabama.” On his arraignment he pleaded “not guilty” and “not guilty by reason of insanity.”- On the trial he was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of 45 years. From the judgment of conviction, he has appealed.

[95]*95An examination of the voluminous transcript (embodying more than 300 pages) leads us to the conclusion that the evidence made a case for jury decision on all the issues in the case. The evidence is without dispute that on the 11th of April, 1949, between 3 :00 and 4 o’clock in the afternoon the appellant shot and killed said Ethridge Richards and his brother J. I. Richards in the same rencounter.

The evidence goes to show that the appellant was a veteran of World War No. II, 28 years of age and served overseas in the artillery forces. On his return to the United States he received an honorable discharge from the army. His entire war record was read in evidence by the Custodian from the Veterans Bureau showing that he was suffering from dementia praecox, a disease of the mind; that his mental development had been retarded and that he had the mind of a person from 8 to 10 years of age; that he was unsocial, preferred to be alone, was nervous and often when in combat would “black out.”.

The defendant offered two medical witnesses, practicing physicians of Shelby County, who basing their testimony on defendant’s war record, testified that defendant was suffering from mental disease and when under excitement could not distinguish between right and wrong, nor could he refrain from acting under pressure whether his acts were right or wrong and that in their opinion if attacked he would not be responsible for his acts.

. There was evidence going to support the plea of self defense. J. I. Richards, one of the men killed, was over fifty years of age and a short stocky man, and Ethridge Richards was forty-seven years of age and tall and active.

The controversy between the deceased and the defendant arose out of the defendant’s claim of the legal right to cut cedar posts on land belonging to the Richards family, as heirs of their father. The beneficiaries of the estate included Mrs. J. A. Richards, the mother, and her three sons J. I. (Ivy) Richards, Cecil B. Richards and Ethridge G. Richards. This land was situated in Shelby County near Cedar Hill Church and near the home of Ethridge Richards and his mother. The evidence shows without dispute that these owners sold the timber on this land to the W. E. Blecher Lumber Co., Inc., for the sum of $2,000 and the deed which was in evidence conveyed all of the timber eight inches and up at the stump dead or alive, standing, lying, being or growing on the described lands. This deed was executed on the 1st day of December, 1948, by the named owners. The evidence also shows without dispute that the defendant, Williams, bought cedar timber for posts from the lumber company for ten cents per post and had permission from the lumber company to go on the land and cut said timber. This permission was first verbally given but was later reduced to writing, under circumstances appearing in the evidence.

On the morning before the killing, the evidence shows that, the defendant, his-brother and brother-in-law Underwood, went to this place to take cedar timber for posts and were accosted by Ethridge Richards who asked the defendant if he had permission to take the cedar timber or posts. Defendant told him that he did but it wasn’t in writing. He then told defendant that he’d better get it in writing, and defendant told him he would. The defendant and his-brother and Underwood backed the Ford truck which they had brought with them for hauling the posts and went immediately to Centerville, Alabama, to the Belcher Lumber Company and got written permission to cut this timber. This written permission was signed by the Belcher Lumber Co., Inc., and was in the words as follows:

“Centreville, Alabama, April 11, 1949.
“To Whom It May Concern:
“This is to certify that Mr. H. L. Williams has our permission to cut paperwood' from 8" and up from the timber left by our crews on lands owned by Richardson heirs in Shelby County, also cedar 8“ and up in diameter. This applies only on the lands, from which the undersigned company purchased the timber.
“W. E. Belcher Lumber Company, Inc„
“L. L. Harris, Forester.”

The evidence was without dispute that the-timber which appellant and his crew were [96]*96seeking to take was timber on the same land covered by the lumber company’s deed.

The evidence further shows that when the defendant and his brother and Underwood returned, they stopped the trucks near .a logging road where ruts had been made by heavy trucks, causing mud holes on each side of the logging road. The Ford truck was stopped near this gate and said mud holes. The brother of defendant and Underwood went on into the woods further up on the hill and were engaged in cutting cedar timber for posts and defendant, who was not well, remained at the truck for a while but later went on up to a pile of cedar posts, on the side of the hill, that had been cut and split and ready for loading on the truck and picked up two of the posts and was carrying them to the Ford truck and just as he got to the mud holes, according to defendant’s testimony, both of the Richards men ran from behind said truck and attacked him, shoved him in the mud hole ■and Ethridge holding him down while J. I. was approaching with his knife making threats to cut his head off. The two posts which defendant was carrying were dropped across the mud holes and remained there until the officers of the law came to the scene. The defendant testified that his shot gun had been left by him in the bushes ■on the road side near this mud hole, that in the struggle he got loose from Ethridge Richards, and while still laying on his back, pushed away from Ethridge up the bank to a point where he could reach the gun and immediately shot J. I. Richards and then instantly shot Ethridge as he turned his side to him facing up the hill. Each of the Richards men was hit by several buckshot, ■one entering J. I.’s neck and one entering the temple on the right side of Ethridge, resulting in their deaths. The defendant immediately sent his brother and ¡brother-in-law with the truck to notify and bring the officers of the law and they soon returned with the Chief of Police of Monetvallo, who is also a deputy sheriff, and later the Sheriff and his deputies came to the place ■of the difficulty. The defendant remained in the woods near the place of the fatal rencounter, and surrendered to the officers of the law, and made a statement to them in respect to the fatal rencounter and the circumstances leading to fatal results. Defendant later made a statement which was reduced to writing to one of the highway investigators.

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Related

Myers v. State
119 So. 2d 602 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1960)
Hogue v. State
78 So. 2d 670 (Alabama Court of Appeals, 1955)

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Bluebook (online)
47 So. 2d 417, 254 Ala. 94, 1950 Ala. LEXIS 514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-state-ala-1950.