Case Name: Leonard Jarman, Plaintiff in Error, v. The State of Florida, Defendant in Error
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1919-07-26
Citations: 78 Fla. 145
Docket Number: 
Parties: Leonard Jarman, Plaintiff in Error, v. The State of Florida, Defendant in Error.
Judges: Taylor, Ellis and West, J. J., concur.
Reporter: Florida Reports
Volume: 78
Pages: 145–148

Head Matter:
Leonard Jarman, Plaintiff in Error, v. The State of Florida, Defendant in Error.
Opinion Filed July 26, 1919.
Under the statute which provides that a verdict of guilty of an offence lesser in degree, hut included, within the offence charged, shall not be set aside on the ground that it is contrary to the evidence, if the evidence would' have supported a verdict of guilty of the greater offence, a verdict of guilty of assault with intent to commit murder in the second degree, upon the charge of assault with intent to , commit murder in the first degree, will he sustained if the evidence shows an assault with intent to commit murder in the first degree or in the second degree as defined by the statute, since the latter offence is regarded as being included in the former.
A Writ of Error to the Circuit Court for Jackson County; C. L. Wilson, Judge.
Judgment affirmed.
Thomas E. Walker, for Plaintiff in Error;
Van C. Swearingen, Attorney General, and D. Stuart Gillis, Assistant, for the State.

Opinion:
Whitfield, J.
— Upon an indictment charging an assault with a premeditated design and intent to kill and murder Dave C. Jones, Leonard Jarman was found "guilty of an assault with intent to murder in second degree," and on writ of error taken to a sentence on the verdict, it-is contended that the evidence does not sustain the verdict.
There is evidence of a personal difficulty between Dave C. Jones and Leonard Jarman. A witness testified: "they stood and talked awhile and Dave looked up at me, and as he did Leonard struck him with that stick and knocked him off in the edge of the ditch. Dave was not making any advance on him at the time he hit him; he looked up at me to make a remark, and when he did Leonard peeled him with the club. The club was -about four feet long and about two and a half inches in diameter. I took Jones away from there; I thought Leonard bad just about killed him, and I went and picked him up and Leonard went off down the road."
This and other testimony adduced afford a legal basis for the verdict, and it does not appear that the jury were not governed by the evidence in making their finding. See Pyke v. State, 47 Fla. 93, 36 South. Rep. 577; Revels v. State, 33 Fla. 308, 14 South. Rep. 821; Williams v. State, 65 Fla. 367, 61 South. Rep. 829; Jones v. State, 66 Fla. 79, 62 South. Rep. 899; Griffin v. State, 72 Fla. 79, 72 South. Rep. 474; Hawthorne v. State, 72 Fla. 524, 73 South. Rep. 590; Long v. State, 42 Fla. 612, 28 South. Rep. 855. Golding v. State, 26 Fla. 530, 8 South. Rep. 311, relied on for the plaintiff in error is not apposite since the enactment of Section 4007, General Statutes, 1906, Compiled Laws, 1914. McCoy v. State, 40 Fla. 494, text 506, 24 South. Rep. 485.
Judgment affirmed.
Taylor, Ellis and West, J. J., concur.
Browne, C. J., dissents.