Opinion

Brown v. State

  • 15 Ala. App. 611
  • 74 So. 733
  • 1917 Ala. App. LEXIS 59
Court
Alabama Court of Appeals
Filed
Mar 23, 1917
Status
Published
Author
Brown
On the bench
Brown
Cited by
4 cases
Authority
More cited than 61.9%

The opinion

BROWN, P. J.—

(1)

The judge of the trial court, at the instance of appellant, has caused the original indictment, duly authenticated by the clerk, to be transmitted to this court for inspection under Supreme Court rule of practice 24.- — -Code 1907, p. 1511. This practice has been

approved.

— Watkins

v. State,

89 Ala. 82 , 8 South. 134 ;

Griffith v. State,

90 Ala. 583 , 8 South. 812 ;

Sanders v. State,

2 Ala. App. 13 , 56 South. 69 ;

Flowers v. State,

2 Ala. App. 65 , 56 South. 98 .

(2)

The indictment, omitting the caption and the signature of the solicitor, is in these words: “The grand jury of said county charge that before the finding of this indictment Herman Brown, against the order of nature

cornally

knew Felix Taylor, against the peace and dignity of the state of Alabama.”

The defendant demurred to the indictment, assigning the grounds: “ (1) Charges no offense against this defendant.” “ (2) It fails to aver that the defendant

carnally

knew Felix Taylor.” There is no such word in the English language as “cornally.” This combination of letters, when the letter “o” is given the short sound as in “not,” is capable of being sounded or pronounced much like the word “carnally;” and, on the authority of the following cases, we hold that the misspelling of this word in the indictment does not render the indictment misleading or subject to

demurrer.

— Griffith

v. State, supra; Flowers v. State,

2 Ala. App. 65 , 56 South. 98 ;

Sanders v. State, supra.

(3)

The court charged the jury in the oral charge, among other things: “The law requires the defendant to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty before a conviction can be had; but that does not mean the state must prove the defendant guilty beyond all doubt, or prove it to a mathematical certainty. It is not a whimsical doubt or possible doubt or speculative doubt;

but it is a doubt based upon a reasonable foundation.”

The defendant excepted to that part of the charge italicized, and insists that the court said no more than that “a reasonable

*613

doubt is a reasonable doubt.” If we concede this contention, it would not be reversible

error.

— Malchow

v. State,

5 Ala. App. 99 , 59 South. 342 . When that portion of the charge excepted to is construed in connection with what precedes it, the utterance excepted to is, in effect, the same as that,

“A

reasonable doubt is a doubt for which a reason can be given,” or

“A

doubt founded upon a reason,” and these definitions have been approved. — 1 Mayf. Dig. 764, § 1.

The proceedings of the trial court appear to be free from reversible error, and the judgment will be affirmed.

The clerk of this court is ordered to transmit to the clerk of the trial court the original indictment.

Affirmed.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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