Ingram v. State, (1940)
Court: Supreme Court of Florida
Number:
Visitors: 7
Judges: PER CURIAM.
Attorneys: Waybright Waybright, for Appellant;
George Couper Gibbs, Attorney General, and William Fisher, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, for Appellee.
Filed: Nov. 05, 1940
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Toney Ingram was indicted for murder in the first degree in the Circuit Court of Duval County on April 12, 1940. From a judgment of conviction and sentence in the State prison for manslaughter, this appeal is brought under the Criminal Procedure Act, Section 280, Chapter 19554, Acts of 1939. The State's proofs consist almost entirely of circumstantial evidence. It appears that the deceased met his death as the result of pistol wounds fired by someone who shot deceased in front of his home as he
Summary: Toney Ingram was indicted for murder in the first degree in the Circuit Court of Duval County on April 12, 1940. From a judgment of conviction and sentence in the State prison for manslaughter, this appeal is brought under the Criminal Procedure Act, Section 280, Chapter 19554, Acts of 1939. The State's proofs consist almost entirely of circumstantial evidence. It appears that the deceased met his death as the result of pistol wounds fired by someone who shot deceased in front of his home as he w..
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After a careful study of the record, we reach the conclusion that the evidence relied upon for conviction being circumstantial evidence was not legally sufficient to meet the degree of certainty required in such cases.
We think the verdict of guilty of manslaughter evidences be existence of grave doubt in the minds of the jury as to the guilt of the defendant. If the State's theory of the case is correct, then the defendant was guilty of murder in the first degree, but the jury evidently was unwilling to accept that theory and, on the assumption that the defendant might have committed the homicide, returned a verdict of guilty of the lowest degree of unlawful homicide.
Source: CourtListener
