JAMES LEE, SR., PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA DEFENDANT IN ERROR

Fla. | 1915-02-24
Taylor, C. J., and Shackleford, Whitfield and Ellis, JJ., concur.
69 Fla. 255 Florida Supreme Court (1915) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

James Lee was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, rejecting challenges to the admissibility of shoe-print evidence, the trial court's jury instructions, and the sufficiency of evidence.


Holding

The shoe-print evidence was properly admitted because the motion to strike was untimely and, even if the shoe-testing constituted constructive compulsion, the evidence remained competent. The requested jury instructions were either argumentative or sufficiently covered by the general charge. The evidence was sufficient to support the conviction and the jury properly rejected the alibi defense.


Key Quotes

“even though the act of handing over the shoe be considered as constructively compulsion, yet the evidence was competent”

Establishes that shoe-print evidence is admissible even if obtaining the shoe involved some degree of compulsion

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

A few hours after a homicide, the accused Lee was taken to the crime scene where an officer compared footprints in soft sand with Lee's shoe. The offi…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
Cockrell, J.

Cockrell, J.

The plaintiff in error was convicted of murder in the first degree, and there being a recommendation to mercy, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

We might refuse to entertain any of the assignments of error, by reason of the very great irregularity-'in the settlement of the bill of exceptions upon which all the assignments of error are based, but the State has declined to take advantage of the irregularity, and the bill was actually signed by the Circuit Judge who tried the case.

A few hours after the homicide, this accused was taken to the scene. The officer in charge testified to the similarity of the tracks made by Lee, with those plainly marked in soft sand going from the scene. The accused at the officer’s suggestion took off a shoe, and the officer testified that it fitted the track exactly. This testimony was objected to upon the sole ground that-he could not testify as to how that track is compared with Jim Lee’s, which was merely repeating that he objected'. ' No objec tion was then urged as' to "the officer'not warning the defendant as to his right to decline incriminating evh dénce, and 'it .would' appear to have been entirely voluntary. After ’ the whole matter had been thoroughly thrashed out there was a motion interposed to strike all the evidence in regard to placing the shoes in the tracks on the ground of compulsion. We think the motion was ¡properly refused as being not timely made, and further that even though the act of handing over the shoe be considered as constructively compulsion, yet the evidence was competent. See Dickens v. State, 50 Fla. 17, 38 South. Rep. 909; Moss v. State, 146 Ala. *686, 40 South, Rep. 340; State v. Fuller, 34 Mont. 12, 85 Pac. Rep. 369, 8 L. R. A. (N. S.) 762; Myers v. State, 97 Ga. 76, 25 S. E. Rep. 252; State v. Arthur, 129 Iowa, 235, 105 N. W. Rep. 422; Krens v. State, 75 Neb. 294, 106 N. W. Rep. 27; People v. Van Wormer, 175 N. Y. 188, 67 N. E. Rep. 299; State v. Graham,. 74 N. C. 646; State v. Sanders, 75 S. C. 409, 56 S. E. Rep. 35 ; Walker v. State, 7 Tex. Ct. App. 245, 32 Am. Rep. 595; Thornton v. State, 117 Wis. 338, 93 N. W. Rep. 1107 ; 4 Wigmore on Ev., Section 2265; 2 Wharton’s Crim. Ev., Section 965. This' is not a case where an inference is sought to he drawn from a refusal to permit the use'of a shoe, or to make a track.

There was a single exception to the refusal to give three instructions requested by the accused. Error is assigned as. to two. of them.only, a-tacit admission that one was properly refused. One of them is clearly: argu mentative, and the others sufficiently covered by the court’s general charge.

Great stress is laid upon the alleged insufficiency of the evidence to identify the accused with the commission of the homicide. We think, however, that the State made out a plain case, while the jury was amply justified in declining to accept the defense of an alibi.

Judgment affirmed.

Taylor, C. J., and Shackleford, Whitfield and Ellis, JJ., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Smith v. State, 142 So. 2d 298 (Fla. 1st DCA 1962)
    …self-incrimination. [*299] In State v. Renner, 34 N.M. 154, 279 P. 66, and People v. Molineux, 168 N.Y. 264, 61 N.E. 286, 62 L.R.A. 193, handwriting samples voluntarily written by the accused were held to be admissible in evidence. In Lee v. State, 69 Fla. 255, 67 So. 883, the defendant, at the arresting officer’s suggestion, handed over his shoe without being warned as to his right against self-incrimination. The Florida Supreme Court held that such did not violate defendant’s constitutional rights. As…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw