Starke v. State

Full title: STARKE v. STATE

Court: Court of Appeals of Alabama

Date published: Jan 18, 1944

16 So. 2d 426 (Ala. Crim. App. 1944)

16 So. 2d 426

Opinion

4 Div. 776.

January 18, 1944.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Pike County; C.C. Brannen, Judge.

John Henry Starke was convicted of manslaughter in the first degree, and he appeals

Affirmed.

John C. Walters, of Troy, for appellant.

Wm. N. McQueen, Acting Atty. Gen., and Geo. C. Hawkins, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

It is proper in a prosecution for murder to admit evidence as to possession of weapons by deceased as tending to negative the claim of self defense. Livingston v. State, 7 Ala. App. 43, 61 So. 54; Strickland v. State, 151 Ala. 31, 44 So. 90; McClendon v. State, 23 Ala. App. 83, 121 So. 2; Jones v. State, 20 Ala. App. 247, 101 So. 33; Ousley v. State, 23 Ala. App. 139, 122 So. 300. Testimony that appellant voluntarily surrendered himself to the authorities was no part of the res gestae and is not admissible where State did not show an attempt to evade arrest. Hurst v. State, 1 Ala. App. 235, 56 So. 18; Hendley v. State, 200 Ala. 546, 76 So. 904; Walker v. State, 139 Ala. 56, 35 So. 1011; Vaughn v. State, 130 Ala. 18, 30 So. 669; Phillips v. State, 11 Ala. App. 15, 65 So. 444; 6 Ala. Dig., Criminal Law, page 208, § 351(3).

SIMPSON, Judge.

The appeal is from a judgment of conviction of manslaughter and a sentence of five years imprisonment.

It was competent, as bearing upon the issue of self-defense, for the State to prove that immediately after defendant felled him with an axe the deceased was searched and no weapon was found. Hendley v. State, 200 Ala. 546, 76 So. 904; Ousley v. State, 23 Ala. App. 139, 122 So. 300; Jones v. State, 20 Ala. App. 247, 101 So. 331.

There was no contention that defendant fled or attempted to evade arrest. It was therefore incompetent for the defense to show that he voluntarily surrendered. Hurst v. State, 1 Ala. App. 235, 56 So. 18; Phillips v. State, 11 Ala. App. 15, 65 So. 444; Hendley v. State, 200 Ala. 546, 76 So. 904; Vaughn v. State, 130 Ala. 18, 30 So. 669.

No other exceptions are meriting of treatment. The case was well tried and every right of defendant duly safeguarded. The record is free of error and the judgment is affirmed.

Affirmed.