18 So. 2d 132 | Miss. | 1944
Leflore was indicted and tried for the murder of one Cleveland Guess and was convicted of manslaughter.
The body of Guess was found about 9 o'clock the morning after the homicide lying upon an embankment some ten feet east of a public road which runs generally north and south, the place being some two miles east of the municipality of West and one-fourth of a mile west of the home of Leflore. The sheriff of Attala County testified in detail as to the condition of the body, the marks of violence thereon, the nature of the terrain and undergrowth about that scene, and then concluded that the body had been brought to that spot from the home of Leflore, tracing the course thereof by broken twigs and brush and mashed-down grass and spots of blood, and the finding of keys and certain personal articles belonging to Guess which had apparently dropped from his pockets as he was being carried, and, at least part of the distance dragged, along that way. He also gave a detailed description of the yard about the home of appellant, finding there spots of blood and that the yard had been freshly scraped. He also found in the home a hoe with dirt and blood thereon, and in the hollow of a near-by tree there were bloody chips. *635
The sheriff also testified that appellant had freely confessed to him that he had shot and killed Guess in his yard about 2 o'clock on the morning before discovery of the body, but that he thought the person was one Mitchell who had threatened his life, and that the person was acting in such manner that he had good reason to believe and did believe that he was in danger of losing his life or suffering great bodily harm at the hands of this person; that when he discovered the victim was Guess and not Mitchell that his two sisters, who were living in the home with him, assisted him in carrying the body of Guess from the home to the spot where it was found, they intending to take Guess to a doctor, he being yet alive, but that he died as they reached this spot, and, being dead, there was no further need to seek the services of a doctor, and they deposited the body there and went their ways, telling no one of the occurrence. Appellant was arrested in West about 9 o'clock the night after the body was found.
At this stage of the trial, and under these conditions, the state moved for permission for the jury to view and inspect the scenes of the crime, which motion the trial judge, over objection of defendant, sustained; whereupon, the entire court repaired to these scenes and then and there the sheriff in response to direct and cross questions, again, as the court proceeded from place to place, described in detail the facts and appearances existing as of the first as compared to the second occasion.
The motion to view and inspect set out no grounds or reasons therefor other than ". . . in order to reach the ends of justice," which, of course, is a conclusion and not a statement of fact. Appellant says the motion should have set out the grounds justifying such view and inspection, with opportunity to defendant to controvert and disprove the asserted grounds, and that the failure so to do is reversible error. This court so held in Great A. P. Tea Co. v. Davis,
It is further urged that the proof shows that appellant was not guilty of a crime and should be discharged, but, if not, that the verdict is so against the overwhelming weight of the evidence on the question of guilt that it should not be permitted to stand. We have carefully reviewed and considered this record and cannot agree with these contentions.
There was a motion for a new trial on newly discovered evidence, which was overruled, and a strong argument for reversal is made here because no minute was entered on the records granting the motion for review by the jury. The remand of the case for the reasons stated makes it unnecessary for us to pass on these contentions, because the error, if there is error, may not recur on another trial.
Reversed and remanded.