Alexander v. State

This appellant was indicted for murder in the first degree of James Sparks. After completion of the evidence the court submitted to the jury only the charges of murder in the second degree, and the two degrees of manslaughter.

The jury returned a verdict finding the appellant guilty of manslaughter in the first degree, and fixed his punishment at imprisonment for three years.

To establish its case the State relied entirely upon certain statements made by the accused after the homicide.

Mr. Howard B. Hardin, Chief Deputy Sheriff of Marshall County since July 1952, and for five years prior to that…