Willingham v. State
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from tlie Circuit Court of St. Glair. Tried before the Hon. John Peli-iam. The appellant in this case, Oden Willingham, was indicted for the murder of Thomas Westbrook, was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to the penitentiary for eleven years.
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Appeal from tlie Circuit Court of St. Glair. Tried before the Hon. John Peli-iam. The appellant in this case, Oden Willingham, was indicted for the murder of Thomas Westbrook, was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to the penitentiary for eleven years. The killing- was shown to have been on October 8, 1900. The evidence showed that the deceased and the defendant lived at the house of one Allen Russell; that in the afternoon of the day of the killing, about 3 or 4 o’clock, the deceased came to the house of Allen Russell with a gun and offered to trade it to Russell for a…
1Opinion of the CourtShabpe, J.
In Harkness v. The State, 129 Ala. 71, it was held, the writer then dissenting, that in cases of homieid.e though involving self-defense, the defendant is not entitled to prove that the deceased while making threats against him on a previous occasion, accompanied those threats with actual hostile demonstrations. That, ruling was on the ground that to so allow inquiry into particulars of a former difficulty would unduly multiply the. issues. A majority of the court adhere to that decision.
In the present case the defendant was permitted to prove that a few hours before the fatal shooting the…
2Cases cited3 opinions
- Miller v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1894
- Mitchell v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1900
- Harkness v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1900
3Cited by11 opinions
- Smith v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1913
- Pitts v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1903
- Ezzell v. StateAlabama Court of Appeals · 1915
- May v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1910
- Cooke v. StateAlabama Court of Appeals · 1921
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