67 Fla. 492 | Fla. | 1914
C. G. Bonner, Melt Bonner and Cleveland Bonner were jointly indicted and tried for murder. The trial resulted in C. G. Bonner and Melt Bonner being convicted of murder in the first degree, with a recommendation to the mercy of the court, and Cleveland Bonner being convicted of murder in the second degree. Each one of the defendants was sentenced to imprisonment in the State prison for the term of his natural life. The defendants jointly seek relief here by writ of error. Thirty-one errors are assigned, of which the first and sixteenth are expressly abandoned and the twenty-sixth and the twenty-seventh, twenty-ninth and thirtieth are not argued and will be deemed to have been abandoned. We have examined all of the remaining assignments, but shall discuss only those which we think merit it. We preface our discussion with the statement that, so far as the record discloses, there were no eyewitnesses to the’ tragedy, the evidence upon which the conviction was obtained being circumstantial in its nature.
The assignments from the second to the ninth inclusive, are argued together by the defendants and, as they state in their brief, “relate to questions propounded to
As to the assignment based upon the overruling of the motion for a new trial which questions the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, the jurors have shown by their verdict that they considered such evidence sufficient to fasten the crime upon the defendants and warrant their conviction. By overruling such motion the trial judge concurred with the jurors in their finding. It is not contended here that the jurors were improperly influenced by considerations outside the evidence, We have carefully read all of the evidence adduced and after doing so are of the opinion that the jurors, as reasonable men, could well have found such verdict This being true, under the established practice of this court, we must concur with the jury, and the trial judge. See Florida East Coast Ry. Co. v. Geiger, 66 Fla. 582, 64 South. Rep. 238, and Godwin v. Collins, 64 South. Rep. 152.
No reversible errors have been made to appear to us, therefore the judgment must be affirmed.