Dunne v. State

263 S.W. 608, 98 Tex. Crim. 7, 1923 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 906
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 13, 1923
DocketNo. 7520.
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 263 S.W. 608 (Dunne v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dunne v. State, 263 S.W. 608, 98 Tex. Crim. 7, 1923 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 906 (Tex. 1923).

Opinions

LATTIMORE, Judge.

— Appellant was convicted in the District Court of Coryell County of murder, and his punishment fixed at fifteen years in the penitentiary.

Appellant and deceased were near neighbors. Appellant moved out of a house in December and in the latter part of said month deceased moved into said premises which he had rented. Said house was situated on the west side of a road and appellant moved into another house on the east side of said road and apparently not more than a couple of hundred yards from the one occupied by deceased, his wife and child. There had without dispute been bad feeling between the men prior to this time. Appellant testified that in September or October preceding, deceased had come into a stubble field and had begun plowing therein; that he, appellant, took a shotgun and went out into the field and stopped at a point some twenty feet distant from where deceased was and ordered him to leave the field, which he did. It seems also true that prior to said occurrence appellant claimed that deceased and one Wilson' had misrepresented a difficulty had between him and another man over some question of rent. On the day appellant ordered deceased out of said field, as the two men were walking away, appellant continued to charge deceased with his supposed participation in the spreading of the story about the rent trouble. Deceased denied having had anything to do with it but appellant told him he had traced it to him and Wilson. When deceased was getting ready to move into the premises occupied by him atthe time of this homicide, he seems to have had several conversations with appellant regarding same. Appellant had a horse lot or some kind of enclosure which he first proposed to leave, and had a water trough which he proposed to leave at the well on the place upon which deceased was moving, if deceased would let him water his stoclc at the well. This deceased-declined to do because of the way appellant had tredted him about the plowing above mentioned. Appellant then concluded to tear down and remove the horse lot referred to and also carry away the water trough. r Thereafter be and deceased met several times but do not seem to have spoken to each other. There was no fence between the land rented by deceased and that of appellant and at some time shortly before this homicide appellant began building a fence through the field apparently. He testified that while digging post holes for this fence he saw deceased get on his horse and that he rode down into the field and made a circle about appellant some twenty-five steps away and then rode off, neither man *11 speaking to the other. Appellant testified that he met deceased in the road and that when deceased saw him coming he stopped, whereupon appellant drove around him, neither of the men speaking on this occasion. On the day of the homicide both men seemed to have been away from home, and when appellant returned he said that he found the mules of deceased in his field. He seems to have taken no steps to remove, them. Later deceased came home and went down into appellant’s field and after some trouble drove the mules out into the road and started them toward his house. As deceased, following the mides, passed the house of appellant, the latter walked out to the fence next to said road. He had put his pistol in his pocket. The place -where appellant stood inside his fence was some two or three feet higher than the ditch on the roadside left by the recent working of said road. There is a dispute in the testimony as to which side of said road deceased was on. His wife, who viewed the occurrence from her house, testified that deceased was walking along in the ditch next to appellant’s fence and that when he reached the point -where he was accosted by appellant, she could see that some words passed between the men and that appellant pulled out his pistol and shot deceased twice. Appéllant, his wife and his witness Keenum indicate that deceased was going north toward his home traveling on the Avest side of said road, appellant’s house being on the east side. Appellant and Keenum say substantially that when deceased reached a point opposite appellant’s house, the latter Avalked out to the fence and told deceased that he must keep his stock out of his field and if he did not appellant was going to phone the constable to put them up. The íavo men began to make statements more or less recriminatory until, as claimed by appellant and Keenum, deceased remarked, “Damn you, if you A\rant trouble, or if 3rou Avant to have a fuss, you can have it now,” and started across the road toward appellant. Appellant said that deceased was about twenty-fiAre or thirty feet from him Avhen he started toward him. "When the shooting took place deceased was near the east side of the road or in the ditch just east thereof. Appellant used an automatic pistol, firing continuously, as he said, and very close together as stated by the AAdfe of deceased. Both bullets entered the right side of deceased near the arm pit. Appellant then walked to his house and told his wife to be calm, that he had to do it, and shortly thereafter telephoned neAVS of the trouble. Keenum AA'ent to deceased and aided b3r the latter’s wife, assisted in carrying him to his home where he died in something like an hour. There Avas no weapon of any kind found upon deceased. He was in his shirt sleeves. '

Appellant’s bills of exception Nos. 1 and 2 complain of the action of the learned trial judge in regard to the A'enire. The sheriff’s return on the special venire facias Avas filed with the district clerk on Saturday August 5th before the case AAras set for trial Monday August *12 7th. Appellant was on bail. The record shows that he obtained no copy of the venire list before his case was called for trial, but when he objected going to trial until he had been furnished with a list of the veniremen, the court offered to postpone the trial until the clerk could make and furnish such list, but appellant's counsel waived the furnishing of same. We see no error in this procedure.

The State through its Assistant Attorney General objects to the consideration of appellant’s bills of exception Nos. 3 to 8 because in question and answer form. The objection must be sustained. Attention is again called to Art. 846, Vernon’s C. C. P., from which we quote:

“Provided, that such stenographer’s report when carried into the statement of facts or bills of exception, shall be condensed so as not to contain the questions and answers, except where in the opinion of the judge, such questions and answers may be necessary in order to elucidate the fact or question involved. ”

Many cases have been decided by this court in which it has declined to consider bills of exception which are violative of this statute. The bills of exception in question are in question and answer form and none of them reflect the fact that it was deemed necessary by the learned trial judge that they be in such form in order to make clear any question or issue involved. If considered, however, no error would appear because none of said bills of exception show that an objectionable juror as that term has been defined by this court, was forced upon appellant. See Maines v. State, 35 Texas Crim. Rep., 113; Keaton v. State, 40 Texas Crim. Rep., 145; Connell v. State, 45 Texas Crim. 153.

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Bluebook (online)
263 S.W. 608, 98 Tex. Crim. 7, 1923 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 906, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dunne-v-state-texcrimapp-1923.