Ex Parte Collins

330 S.W.2d 194, 168 Tex. Crim. 500, 1959 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2631

• Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
• Decided: November 4, 1959
• Docket: 31278
• Status: Published

Opinions

MORRISON, Presiding Judge.

This is an appeal from an order refusing appellant bail, after indictment for murder.

The Constitution of this state says that all prisoners are entitled to bail except in capital cases “when the proof is evident.” Article I, Section 11. The term “proof evident” means that the accused, with cool and deliberate mind and formed design, maliciously killed the deceased, and that upon a hearing of the facts before the court a dispassionate jury would, upon such evidence, not only convict but would assess the death penalty. Ex Parte Washburn, 161 Texas Cr. Rep. 651, 280 S.W. 2d 257, and Ex parte Shults, 127 Texas Cr. Rep. 484, 77 S.W. 2d 877.

The state’s evidence was that the appellant visited with a roomer at the Center Hotel for a few minutes and then left, stating that he was going to visit with his father who lived down the hall. Some thirty minutes later, the deceased was found lying in the hall, dead from cuts inflicted by a sharp instrument. The appellant, who was found at his mother’s home, was overheard to say “that he had fixed him.”

In cases such as this, it is not our practice to discuss the facts fully, but we do observe that the defensive evidence, if properly developed as part of the res gestae, would reasonably well support self defense.

This court has held that where the evidence reasonable will support the defense of self-defense it is a bailable case. Ex parte Adams, 119 Texas Cr. Rep. 135, 44 S.W. 2d 713.

The judgment of the trial court is reversed, and relator is granted bail in the sum of $15,000.00.

It is so ordered.