Appellant Billy Gross was convicted of murder in the first degree in the Circuit Court of Conway County on March 5, 1964 and 'sentenced on March 19, 1964 to life imprisonment. He was charged with having killed one Frank Birch, alias Dutch Charton. No appeal was. taken from that conviction and sentence. On July 9, 1965, appellant filed a pleading he designated Petition! for Writ of Habeas Corpus, alleging that his conviction was void because of violation of his constitutional rights and offering newly discovered evidence. This evidence was alleged to be a statement o'f one Reverend Dewey Dill and wife that the deceased was alive several hours later than appellant claimed the evidence showed Birch was supposed to have died at appellant’s hands.
On August 27, 1965 appellant filed a petition for writ of error “Cora Nova” (coram nobis). In ihis pleading he alleged error on the part of the trial court in denying a mental examination of appellant before trial, in permitting an alleged relative of the deceased to sit on the jury, the failure of his appointed attorney to subpoena certain unnamed witnesses, the denial of his right of appeal by his attorney, and new evidence, the latter being that of Reverend O. D. Dili and wife. Attached was a statement signed by Reverend O. D. Dill relating an occasion of his having seen Frank Birch alive. On Decern-ber 7, 1965 appellant filed a motion for post-conviction hearing and review, purportedly under Criminal .Pro-, cednre Bule No. 1. In- addition' to repeating most -of the contents of'his. previous pleadings, appellant aileged other errors based on jury selection, separation of witnesses, admission of testimony, credibility, of witnesses, misconduct of officials toward the jury, refusal by prison officials of permission to write courts, denial of counsel, and withholding of evidence by the sheriff.
Hearing on the various motions and petitions of appellant was held by the trial court on March 7, 1966 at which time the court, after hearing the testimony of 0. D. Dill, Marlin Hawkins, Joe Quinn, L. M. Beid, Harry Locke and Joe Brewer, denied appellant a new trial on the ground of newly discovered evidence, that being the only ground of appellant’s, various motions then presented, appellant’s counsel having said that the testimony of 0. D. Dill was all the proof on behalf of appellant. Prom the order denying a new trial comes this appeal.
No evidence was offered in the trial court on any ground of appellant’s, motions except that of newly discovered evidence, and the brief on his behalf is also confined to this ground. Therefore, we have no basis for consideration of any other ground on this appeal.
As a motion for new- trial, appellant’s, pleadings, being filed after the expiration of the term at which he was convicted, came too late. Ark. Stat. Ann. § 43-2202 (Repl. 1964) ; Thomas v. State,
A writ of error coram nobis, does not lie to review an issue of fact or to contradict an adjudicated issue of fact. It is never a means of remedy upon the ground of newly discovered evidence. Howard v. State,
NeAvly discovered evidence is one of the* least fa\Tored grounds of a motion for new trial. See 4 .Ark. Law 'ReAÚeAv 60. Such a motion is addressed to the sound legal discretion of the trial judge and an appellate court Avill interfere only in case of an apparent abuse of discretion or injustice to the movant. Ward v. State,
Neither appellant nor his mother testified, but his motion states that he, his attorney and his parents, on March 2, 1964 joined in a request for a mental examination of appellant, justifying the inference that he and his attorney were in communication with his mother. Mrs. Hall did not testify either, but appellant’s motion alleged that Mrs. Hall had advised the sheriff of Dill’s having seen Birch on the date in question before Gross’s trial. After a careful review of the record we find no showing of reasonable diligence on the part of appellant to discover the evidence relied upon, or of evidence of that nature.
There are other grounds, however, upon which the trial judge in the exercise of sound judicial discretion might properly have denied appellant’s motion. The mere fact that the purported evidence would he contradictory to that offered at the trial by the State is insufficient. Osborne v. State,
The determination of whether the application for a new trial because of newly discovered evidence is in good faith and the weight and sufficiency of the evidence in support of the motion are within the discretion of the trial judge. Bixby v. State, supra ; Arkadelphia Lumber Co. v. Posey,
At the hearing, objection was made to the testimony of Joe Quinn and Harry Locke. Their testimony was about appellant’s admissions of guilt voluntarily made to them (a deputy sheriff and state policeman, respectively) while they were transporting him to the state penitentiary immediately after he was sentenced. In order for the court to determine whether the motion was made in good faith and the probability of a different result upon a new trial, it was proper for the court to hear witnesses. It was also proper for the court to consider any evidence contradictory to that offered by appellant. Any admission of guilt on the part of appellant would certainly be in contradiction of testimony of Dill that Frank Birch was alive later than his death was supposed to have resulted from acts of appellant and would tend to render a different result on a new trial unlikely. It would also indicate a lack of good faith on the part of appellant in making his motions. The same may be said of the admission of photographs of the deceased taken on the date Dill claimed to have seen Birch and showing the bodj- of the deceased with elotíiing appearing to be in colors greatly different from those described by Dill. In Jones v. State,
It would unduly extend this opinion to dwell upon other uncertainties and contradictions in the testimony of Dill, the only witness offered by appellant at the hearing. Although it was alleged that Dill’s wife was along and saw Birch at the same time he did, she did not testify. There,is no contradiction of the testimony of the officers as to appellant’s admission of,guilt.
The trial court is required to determine the issues by Criminal Procedure Rule No. 1. It was that court’s opinion that the testimony of appellant’s only witness would not justify a new trial. We cannot say that there was any abuse of discretion in so finding.
The order of the trial court overruling the motion is affirmed.
