Morrison v. State

MERRILL, Justice.

We granted the writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals because that Court stated that it was bound to follow the holdings in State v. Autery, 1 Stew. 399, and Caldwell v. State, 160 Ala. 96, 49 So. 679, that in criminal proceedings charging assault and battery, the defendant may prov.e the pendency of a civil action against him for the same assault in mitigation of a possible fine, although it doubted the soundness of these holdings.

We do not agree with the reasoning in those cases as to the admissibility of the pendency of a civil action. That would permit the mitigation…