Woodard v. State

Appellant was indicted by the grand jury of Blount County for murder in the first degree in January of 1979. Appellant received a trial by jury, a guilty verdict was returned for manslaughter in the first degree, and he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in the penitentiary. The trial judge charged the jury on the four degrees of homicide.

The evidence shows that the deceased, Dallas Reeves, and an acquaintance, Joe Walker, had been drinking heavily on the morning of Sunday, June 18, 1978. After consuming a bottle of wine they went to the Dogwood Inn in Oneonta, Alabama, where they drank…