Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

131 Ala. 18

Thompson v. State

Supreme Court of Alabama

Decided November 15, 1901

Supreme Court of Alabama · decided 1901-11-15

Tried before the Hon. O. Kyle. Tlie appellant was tried under an indictment which charged that “before the finding of this indictment, Dan Thompson unlawfully and intentionally, but without malice, killed James 'Carter by running with a horse against a mule on which said 'Carter was riding, thereby knocking said Carter from his said mule upon the ground, killing him as aforesaid,” was convicted of manslaughter in the second degree, and sentenced to one year’s hard labor for…

Relies on Rogers v. State · Amos v. State · Avery v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1901-11-15

How this case has been cited

Cited by 19 later decisions — most recently August 1987

19 state decisions

70190119101920193019401950196019701980decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

SHARPE, J.

¶1Horse-racing along a public road is unlawful and if the homicide was caused by such unlawful act it may have amounted to manslaughter in the second degree regardless of whether the running was furious, reckless and grossly negligent. For this reason charge 15 was properly refused.

¶2Charges 14 and 2 were both bad under the authority of this court’s recent decisions. As to 14 see Amos v. State, 123 Ala. 50, Rogers v. State, 117 Ala. 9. As to 2, see Avery v. State, 124 Ala. 20 and like decisions therein cited.

¶3To authorize a conviction of manslaughter in the second degree the averment of intention was not necessary to be proved. Therefore, charge 8, if not positively bad, was misleading in tendency. Charge 4 was obviously bad.

¶4*21Since tbe conviction was only for manslaughter in the second degree the charges given for the State on the subject of intention were not injurious to defendant. This on the same principle that charges relating to malice are held innocuous where the conviction is of manslaughter. See authorities cited 1 Mayfield’s Dig., 45, § 165.

¶5Affirmed.

/131/ala/18 · .json · Public domain