Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

11 Ala. App. 141

Stone v. State

Alabama Court of Appeals

Decided June 3, 1914

Alabama Court of Appeals · decided 1914-06-03

Heard before Hou. W. W. Pearson. Andrew Stone was convicted of adultery, and he appeals. Paul Tatum was shown a letter, and the envelope with it, and testified that he received the letter in the envelope in due course of mail, that the letter was unsigned, but the envelope bore in the left-hand upper corner, “After __ days return to J. A. Stone, Calera, Ala., R. F. D.,” and that the letter came to him sealed and stamped in that envelope.

Cited by 3 later decisions — most recently November 2005

3 state decisions

Relies on Palmer v. State · Oakley v. State · Williams v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Affirmed · Decided 1914-06-03

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

PELHAM, J.

¶1The defendant on cross-examination denied having written the letter testified to by the state’s witness Paul Tatum as having been received by him, and without objection at the request of state’s counsel wrote down in the presence of the court and jury some of the same matter or contents — the same letters, words, and figures of which the letter was composed — for the purpose of comparing the two writings. The disputed writing, and the writing done in the presence of the court (which latter became a part of the cross-examination of the -witness) were properly submitted to the jury for comparison. Williams v. State, 61 Ala. 33, 40; U. S. Health & Accident Co. v. Hill, 9 Ala. App. 222, 62 South. 954; 17 Cyc. 181, 182. The letter contained matter having reference to the charge against the defendant and was properly admitted in evidence. Oakley v. State, 135 Ala. 15, 33 South. 23.

¶2The court improperly charged the jury orally that they could assess a fine of not less than $100 and “any sum over that within your judgment and discretion”; but, as the jury assessed the lowest fine authorized by the statute, the verdict cured the error, or rendered it harmless. — Palmer, et al. v. State, 168 Ala. 124, 53 South. 283.

¶3The court properly refused the general charges requested by the defendant and submitted the case to the w*y-

¶4Charge No. 7 is not a correct statement of a legal proposition. It is only when the jury believe that a witness has willfully sworn falsely that they are author*144ized to disregard the entire testimony of the witness.— Childs v. State, 76 Ala. 93.

¶5Other rulings of the court presented are manifestly correct or without prejudice to the defendant, and require no discussion.

¶6We discover no error authorizing a reversal, and the judgment appealed from is ordered affirmed.

¶7Affirmed.

/11/alaapp/141 · .json · Public domain