Babineaux v. State

777 S.W.2d 724, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2673, 1989 WL 126324
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 30, 1989
DocketNo. 09-88-062 CR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 777 S.W.2d 724 (Babineaux v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Babineaux v. State, 777 S.W.2d 724, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2673, 1989 WL 126324 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

BROOKSHIRE, Justice.

The Newton County grand jury presented an indictment which alleged that the Appellant, on or about October 9, 1986, did then and there intentionally and knowingly cause the death of George Marcus Kerr by shooting him with a 12-gauge shotgun and did then and there use a deadly weapon.

The State’s narrative of the events was that the Appellant had shot Kerr near a certain camp that was owned by the Appellant. The Appellant’s estranged wife was residing in the camp. The deceased’s corpse was located near the camp. A divorce was pending between the Appellant and his estranged wife. The Appellant relied, principally, on the defense of self-defense. The Appellant’s recollection was that the divorce proceeding had been filed in July, 1986. According to the Appellant’s own testimony, at one point, when the deceased was getting on his 3-wheeler, and shortly thereafter, when Kerr started to get off of it, Kerr started taking his long gun off the 3-wheeler and unwrapping it. At that point, Appellant testified that he told George Kerr to stop taking his gun off the 3-wheeler. The Appellant stated from the stand that he said, at the scene of the killing that there was no sense in anybody getting hurt. After this warning or admonition from the Appellant, the Appellant was asked by his own attorney if George Kerr said anything to the Appellant. The Appellant replied:

“A. He said “f— you, scum.”

The Appellant was asked what else did the deceased say and the Appellant said the deceased said:

“A. He said, I’ll blow your f-head off.”

While uttering these profane statements, according to the Appellant, the deceased was in the process of getting his gun off the 3-wheeler. At that point, the Appellant, according to his own testimony, tried to influence and affect the deceased from taking the gun off the 3-wheeler and unwrapping the same by leading the deceased to believe there was someone else there [726]*726besides the Appellant. The Appellant stated that every time he looked out from around the tree, the deceased told him that he would blow the “f-head” off the Appellant and that the deceased had his long gun pointed at the Appellant while he was shouting these vulgar statements.

According to the Appellant’s own version of the attitude, demeanor, language and profanity of the dead man, it was amply demonstrated to the jury that the deceased, who was acting in a crazed manner — not only threatened the Appellant but cursed him as well.

The defense of self-defense, as well as the defense of accident, was submitted to the jury. The jury simply did not accept the Appellant’s version or narration of events leading to the death of Kerr.

Apparently, shortly after the shooting, the Appellant was walking down River Road and was walking past the yard or front door of one John Cofty, when, according to Cofty, this exchange took place:

“A. Well, to the best of my knowledge, the best I can remember, he walked up in the yard — I stepped out — and he asked me if I heard the shots. And I said, well, I’ve heard some shots. And he said I just shot the bastard that’s been living with Betty down there.
“Q. Then how did he seem? Did he seem relaxed or excited or what could you tell?
“A. Kind of shook-up, I guess.”

Later, the witness, Cofty, stated that the Appellant told him that he didn’t want what happened to have happened; that all he wanted to do was to get a picture and that he, the Appellant, hated what had happened; that his own people were really good people and that the law had already been notified.

A deputy sheriff, Butch Bryant, testified that apparently Mr. Babineaux was standing behind a certain tree when the shooting took place and that is where he found two shells or two hulls on the ground and, further, the deputy sheriff, Bryant, claimed Mr. Babineaux showed him where Babi-neaux was standing behind the tree. When the deputy arrived at the scene, the 3-wheeler was still running and the victim was lying on the ground. The deputy sheriff said the very first thing the Appellant said, when the deputy sheriff came up was:

“A. ... He said I shot the bastard.
“Q. Was he sad about it or crying or anything like that?
“A. No, sir. I couldn't say whether it was a type of mood that is out of anger or sorrow — more of a hateful attitude.”

The deputy did see one man walking around who had a camera around his neck and Appellant identified that man as being one of his sons. The deputy said later the Appellant told him that he shot George Kerr because he thought George was going to shoot him. Somewhat later, the Appellant had told the deputy sheriff that he had gotten a phone call from his lawyer in Port Arthur. Appellant had heard that George, or somebody, had been staying at his wife’s camp-house and his lawyer told him he should get some photographs and if he obtained some photographs these would help him work his divorce case out.

The clothing that the deceased had on, at the time of alleged crime and at the crime scene, were offered into evidence as State’s Exhibit No. 28. The Appellant had no objection to these clothes except that he wanted the State to enumerate each article of clothing. The articles were a pair of pants that the victim had on, which were military style; a blue jacket that the victim had on; a pair of shoes and two pair of socks that he had on; and a necklace, a gold-chain necklace. He had on some blue jeans, an undershirt and a belt. There was also a black tee shirt and other small articles of clothing. The above test was from the testimony of Officer Bryant.

There was also a shotgun beside the body of the dead man and it was shown that the safety on the long gun was off and it was in a ready-to-fire position. The long-barreled gun beside the body of George Kerr was loaded when found by Bryant. The load was .00 buckshot. Upon cross-examination, Bryant insisted that there had been several stories, or three different sto[727]*727ries, or versions of the tragic events that the Appellant had told Bryant and Bryant maintained that the Appellant first told him that the Appellant wanted to talk to George Kerr, but he was afraid George would shoot him because George hollered once that he, the victim, would blow Mr. Babineaux’s m-f-head off and that the then suspect, now the Appellant, was standing behind a tree and said that the victim turned around and faced the Appellant directly and raised his shotgun and the Appellant just stuck his gun around the tree and fired twice. That was the first story.

Then, Bryant said his recollection was that the victim had just gotten off the 3-wheeler and had taken off running. Then, when Bryant asked the suspect, Ba-bineaux, Sr., how the victim got off the 3-wheeler Bryant said Babineaux made the comment that he first saw the victim coming down the trail, riding it apparently after he had left the wife’s camp and then he, the suspect, hollered for Kerr to stop and he wanted to talk but the victim jumped off the 3-wheeler and started running on foot. Bryant then stated that, from the indications at the scene, when he looked at the position of the 3-wheeler and the dead body, Bryant thought that Kerr was running away from Babineaux, Sr. The distance from the 3-wheeler to the body was 36 feet.

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Related

Babineaux v. State
803 S.W.2d 301 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
777 S.W.2d 724, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2673, 1989 WL 126324, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/babineaux-v-state-texapp-1989.