Judges: CHAPMAN, J.
Attorneys: H.H. McDonald, for Plaintiff in Error;
George Couper Gibbs, Attorney General, Thomas J. Ellis,
Assistant Attorney General, and J.C. Adkins, for Defendant in Error.
Filed: Mar. 08, 1940
Latest Update: Mar. 02, 2020
Summary: Plaintiff in error was indicted by a grand jury of Gilchrist County, Florida, on September 26, 1938, for the murder of J.T. Owens on the 3rd day of July, 1938, and upon arraignment entered a plea of not guilty to a crime charged in the indictment. He was placed upon trial and by a jury of Gilchrist County convicted of crime of murder in the first degree, without recommendation to mercy, and was by the trial court sentenced to death by electrocution, and from this judgment a writ of error has bee
Summary: Plaintiff in error was indicted by a grand jury of Gilchrist County, Florida, on September 26, 1938, for the murder of J.T. Owens on the 3rd day of July, 1938, and upon arraignment entered a plea of not guilty to a crime charged in the indictment. He was placed upon trial and by a jury of Gilchrist County convicted of crime of murder in the first degree, without recommendation to mercy, and was by the trial court sentenced to death by electrocution, and from this judgment a writ of error has been..
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The application for change of venue did not comply with Section 4337 C. G. L.; Among other things it was not supported by affidavits of "at least two reputable citizens of the county." Furthermore, there was no difficulty in securing a qualified jury. No peremptory challenges were used by the defendant.
As is usually the case, there were some discrepancies in the testimony of the witnesses for the State, and a sharp conflict between the testimony of the defendant and the State's witnesses. But it was "a jury case," and the trial judge properly submitted the case to the jury. As there was sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict, the motion for new trial was properly overruled, and the judgment of conviction should be affirmed.
BUFORD, J., concurs.
