CHARLIE FREE, ALIAS OSCAR FREE,
v.
STATE
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.
Charlie Free was convicted of miscegenation under Florida law for intermarrying with a white woman. The Florida Supreme Court reversed his conviction, holding that the state failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Free had more than one-eighth negro blood, a material element of the offense.
The court reversed Free's conviction, holding that the evidence was legally insufficient to establish that Eph Parks, a negro, was the father of the defendant. The circumstantial evidence presented did not meet the required standard that circumstances proven must be inconsistent with every other reasonable hypothesis.
“The allegation that the defendant had 'more than one-eighth negro blood in him' is one of the material allegations of the information and that allegation is required to be proven beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.”
Establishes that paternity was a material element requiring proof beyond reasonable doubt
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceCharlie Free and Elsie Brown were charged with miscegenation in Walton County, Florida. At trial, Brown was acquitted but Free was convicted and sente…
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.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Reasonable Doubt cases and more on FLexlaw
Plaintiff in error, known as Charlie Free, and one Elsie Brown were charged by information with the offense of miscegenation in Walton County, Florida, the charge being that, “Charlie Free, alias Oscar Free, being then and there a negro, and then and there being a person with more than one-eighth of negro blood in him, and Elsie Brown, being then and there a white female person, did then and there unlawfully intermarry.”
On trial Elsie Brown was acquitted and Charlie Free was found guilty and adjudged to be guilty and sentenced to' four years in the State prison.
*234The sole question presented for our consideration' is whether or not the evidence is sufficient to show that Charlie Free “was a negro then and there being a person with more than one-eighth of negro blood in him.”
The evidence shows that Charlie Free was born of a white woman; that at the 'time of his birth she was not living with her husband and had not lived with him for a long time prior to the birth of the child. There is sufficient evidence in the record to create the impression that one Eph Parks, a negro, might have been the father of the child. Charlie Free’s mother,. Mary Free, testified as a witness in the case. She testified, in part, as follows:
“Charlie Free is my son. My father’s name was Hurst, Luke Hurst. I stayed with him sometime and looked after his household, kitchen. There was negro there for a little while whose name was Eph. Parks. He didn’t help me around the kitchen; he did not help me cook or work around the house. He came there to make a farm. I never had any sexual relationship with Eph. Parks. I never allowed him to become familiar with me at any time. I had two other children, beside Charlie, here, and they were white, light colored. They did not have the same father. This boy’s father, the boy who is on trial, was part Greek and Indian. He lived in Florala and ran a little fruit stand and his name was Ed. Stevens. I don’t know where he went when he left from there. This boy, Charlie, was born when I was living at my father’s. This boy ate at the table at my father’s house with the rest of the family, regularly. He slept in the same room with the other members of the family and slept in my room. After he became a young man he stayed at the home until he got a job. He was received in the homes of the white people at Portland all right, I never heard anything the contrary.”
*235The most adverse testimony in the record is that to the effect that upon one occasion Charlie Free admitted to Judge Brannon that he, Charlie, knew that he, Charlie, was colored, but the defendant Free in rebuttal testified that Brann'on told him, Free, that he, Free, was colored but said that he> the witness, did not reply to that statement by Judge Brannon. He testified that his mother had always told him .that his father was Indian or part Indian. There is no evidence in the record that Free’s mother ever stated that anyone except the man Ed Stevens was the father of this boy. On this trial she testified that Ed Stevens was “part Greek and Indian.”
The allegation that the defendant had “more than one-eighth negro blood iri him” is one of the material allegations of the information and that allegation is required to be proven beyond and to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt.
The evidence tending to show that Eph Parks was the father of the defendant is entirely circumstantial and does not meet the test that where circumstantial evidence is relied upon for conviction the circumstances proven must not only be consistent with the conclusion necessary to establish the guilt of the accused, but must be inconsistent with every other reasonable hypothesis.
The evidence has been examined and is found not legally sufficient to establish proof that Eph Parks, a negro, was the father of the defendant, Charlie Free.
It follows that the judgment must be reversed and it is so ordered.
Reversed.
Terrell, C. J., and Thomas, J., concur.
Whitfield, P. J., concurs in opinion and judgment.
*236Justices Brown and Chapman not participating as authorized by Section 4687, Compiled General Laws of 1927- and Rule 21-A of the Rules of this Court.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Savage v. State, 152 Fla. 367 (Fla. 1943)…, as a whole, must be so strong, cogent, and convincing as to exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of the defendant’s guilt. See Solomon [*375] v. State, 115 Fla. 310, 156 So. 401; Brown v. State, 127 Fla. 225, 172 So. 921; Free v. State, 142 Fla. 233, 194 So. 639. The decisions of this Court hold that in order to sustain a conviction in a criminal case for the negligent operation of an automobile on a highway, the evidence adduced to support the charge should be at least as high as that require…
-
Jones v. State, 466 So. 2d 301 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)…efense not properly negated by the state’s proof; murder conviction reversed); Ingram v. State, 144 Fla. 714, 198 So. 464 (1940) (defendant’s corroborated alibi evidence not negated by state’s proof; manslaughter conviction reversed); Free v. State, 142 Fla. 233, 194 So. 639 (1940) (defense testimony that the defendant was born of a white woman and was fathered by a white man, not negated by state’s proofs; miscegenation conviction reversed); Kelly v. State, 99 Fla. 387, 126 So. 366 (1930) (defendant’s tria…
-
Williams v. State, 158 Fla. 415 (Fla. 1947)…23 So. 857; Pate v. State, 72 Fla. 97, 72 So. 517; Whetston v. State, 31 Fla. 240, 12 So. 661. Also see Solomon v. State, 115 Fla. 310, 156 So. 401; Brown v. State, 127 Fla. 225, 172 So. 921; Dewey v. State, 135 Fla. 443, 186 so. 224; Free v. State, 142 Fla. 233, 194 So. 639; Savage v. State, 152 Fla. 367, 11 So. (2nd) 778. The evidence as to the guilt of A. C. Carlton and Dan Stocks fails to meet the test of sufficiency. Every bit of the evidence shown'in this record may be absolutely true and all reason…