Title: Harley v. State
Citation: 345 So. 2d 1048
Docket Number: 49565
State: Mississippi
Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court
Date: May 11, 1977

345 So. 2d 1048 (1977) Clarence HARLEY v. STATE of Mississippi. No. 49565. Supreme Court of Mississippi. May 11, 1977. H. Clark Coleman, Jr., West Point, John P. Fox, Houston, for appellant. A.F. Summer, Atty. Gen. by Wayne Snuggs, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Jackson, for appellee. Before GILLESPIE, ROBERTSON and LEE, JJ. ROBERTSON, Justice, for the Court: Clarence Harley was indicted by the grand jury of the Circuit Court of the First *1049 Judicial District of Chickasaw County, for the murder of Emmett Kirby, Jr. He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to serve a term of eighteen years in the state penitentiary with six years being suspended. There were six assignments of error but we will discuss only two. We think there is merit in those two and are of the opinion that the conviction and sentence should be reversed and this case remanded for a new trial. The two assignments of error, which we are sustaining, contend: The victim of the fatal shooting, Emmett Kirby, Jr., was the brother of appellant's wife, Ladester Kirby Harley. There was bad blood between Harley and his brother-in-law, Kirby, extending back into 1974. The appellant was allowed to testify of threats on his life made directly to him by his brother-in-law, Emmett Kirby, Jr.; he was also allowed to testify of threats against him made by his (appellant's) wife and threats made directly to him by his stepson. Appellant was not allowed to testify of threats by the deceased which were communicated to Harley by his wife and stepson. Harley attempted to testify of these threats to show his state of mind on November 7, 1975, the day of the fatal shooting. On Wednesday, two days before the fatal encounter on Friday, appellant had a run-in with his 16-year-old stepson Wendell Cousin, who lived in his home. This testimony was offered out of the presence of the jury: It was fatal error to exclude this testimony because it was offered not for the truthfulness of the threats but merely to show the apprehensive state of mind of the defendant at the time of the fatal encounter. The Supreme Court of Arkansas considered this type of testimony in Davis v. State, 533 S.W.2d 202 (Ark. 1976). Davis was convicted of murder in the second degree and sentenced to 15 years in the Department of Correction. At his trial, he asserted self-defense and attempted to show that on the afternoon before the shooting his Aunt Gloria had told him that the deceased had threatened him. In finding that prejudicial error was committed when the trial court ruled out this testimony, the Supreme Court of Arkansas said: Because of this fatal error, the judgment of the lower court is reversed and this cause remanded for a new trial. REVERSED AND REMANDED. GILLESPIE, C.J., PATTERSON and INZER, P. JJ., and SMITH, SUGG, WALKER, BROOM and LEE, JJ., concur.