People v. Carson

WOOD, J.

Defendant was charged by information with the crime of murder and was found guilty by a jury of murder in the second degree. He was also charged with a prior conviction of murder and this charge was admitted. He has appealed from the judgment of conviction.

The decedent and the defendant were twin brothers. In the evening of May 11, 1940, they were visiting at the home of their sister, Mrs. Willie Key, and as they came out of the house at “about dusk” they approached decedent’s automobile which was parked at the curb and in which the wife of

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decedent, Mrs. Reva Carson, was sitting. Mrs. Carson testified that as the two brothers came from the house they were carrying on an “ordinary conversation’’ but she could not understand what they were saying. She testified: “Well, they came out of the house and walked down the steps, and I called to my husband to come on, hurry up and let’s go home. So he said all right, and then they walked on to the ear. And then my husband started to go around the back end of the car, to go around to the driver’s seat, and just as he went around the back of the car Elgin followed him, and instead of my husband getting in the car he started backing up, and I glanced toward the back and I saw Elgin opening his knife. . . . And then he (decedent) backed to the front of the car, and then whirled and ran. . . . He ran away from the defendant, and he followed him, and he caught up with him I think on the front porch, and there was a struggle on the front porch and my husband gave a blood-curdling scream, and about that time the front door opened, and my husband said to his sister, ‘Willie, he has cut me to death, ’ and then he fell in the door.”

The two men were similar in appearance and both wore grey suits. Defendant testified that he told decedent that he wanted to ride with him to 42nd Street but decedent told him that he could not do so because his wife might want to be taken somewhere. Defendant then told decedent that he wanted to go and started to open the rear door of the car. He further testified: “I started to open the door to get in and he said, ‘Don’t get in. I told you, don’t get in, I can’t take you.’ And I asked him why. And in the meantime I had attempted to open the door, and he slammed the door and said—I turned around and I saw a knife in his hand, and when he slammed the door he said, ‘Don’t get in.’ I said,‘What is the matter? You have a knife.’ And he said, ‘Yes, if you attempt to get in I will use it.’ And in the meantime I backed up, and he was approaching me—I backed around on the sidewalk, and as we reached the sidewalk, I had in mind that I was afraid to turn my back to him—I didn’t know, from the way he spoke—I hit at his wrist to try to knock the knife on the ground and run, and I missed it. So I ran myself, and when I ran I was aiming to go around my sister’s house; but in the meantime we walked around together, and I jumped onto the porch, and when