Foster v. State

400 S.W.2d 552, 1966 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 992
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 23, 1966
Docket39160
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 400 S.W.2d 552 (Foster 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
Foster v. State, 400 S.W.2d 552, 1966 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 992 (Tex. 1966).

Opinions

WOODLEY, Judge.

The indictment charging appellant with the murder of Marion John Tremont was returned on March 25, 1965, at which time appellant was seventeen years of age.

The trial which resulted in the conviction of the appellant, with punishment assessed at confinement in the penitentiary for life, began on July 6,1965 and judgment having been rendered on the jury’s verdict and sentence pronounced, notice of appeal was given on August 4, 1965.

The offense for which appellant was tried and convicted was alleged and shown to have been committed on or about the 25th day of March, 1963, at which time the appellant was under 16 years of age.

The statement of facts reveals that the body of M. J. Tremont, the deceased, who had been reported missing, was found shortly after 9 A.M. on March 26, 1963, in a pasture just off of Wilcox Lane, in Brazos County, about 8 miles from Bryan. There was a cedar post lying across his body.

Appellant came to the Brazos County Jail about 7:10 o’clock the next morning and told Deputy Sheriff Fronterhouse that he was the one that had killed Mr. Tre-mont.

Sheriff Hamilton had visited the scene and had seen the body and a hat and other articles in the immediate area and had taken charge of the fence post. In response to Deputy Fronterhouse’s call, he went to his office and talked to appellant who confessed to him that he killed Mr. Tremont.

Appellant’s version of the facts and circumstances surrounding the killing is shown in the following testimony of Sheriff Hamilton :

“Q. What was the first thing that he told you, as best you recall?
“A. Well, he admitted to me this crime, this killing. He told me where Mr. Tremont had picked him up.
“Q. And where was that, sir?
“A. On 23rd and Sims, in Bryan. He then told me that where this happened was on out in the country, and he directed me every turn to the scene of this killing.
[554]*554* * * * * *
“Q. And what did he say happened there at Wilcox Lane where the body was discovered?
“A. He said they parked the car there, I believe he said they crawled over the gate, and went down to the edge of the woods, and he went on ahead, or got behind Mr. Tremont, one way or the other, and as he came by he fired at him with this pistol.
* * * * * *
“Q. Now, Mr. Hamilton, did he tell you how he killed Mr. Tremont?
“A. He did.
“Q. Will you tell the jury what he told you?
“A. Yes, sir. He said after he had shot at him several times with the pistol, the pistol, he didn’t think would shoot him, and Mr. Tremont had started running back toward the car, and he caught him just before he got to the fence where there is a gate there near, and picked up a cedar post and hit him with it. He said he remembered that he hit him two or three times. He said he might have hit him more, but he did remember hitting him 2 or 3 times, and then he straightened the body out and left.
“Q. Did he tell you what time of day that was?
“A. He said it was shortly after he picked him up.
“Q. And did he tell you he took Mr. Tremont’s car keys?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. And did he tell you that he drove Mr. Tremont’s car back to town?
“A. Yes, sir.
“Q. All right, did he tell you how he came back to town?
“A. Yes.
“Q. Tell the jury whether or not he told you he stopped at Nuche’s Store, or a store on the way back?
“A. He told me he did and that he made a purchase there.
* * * * * *
“Q. Did he tell you he made any purchases at any store downtown?
“A. He said he did at the Guarantee Store.
“Q. Did he tell you what money he used to make these purchases?
“A. He did. He told me he had taken Thirty Dollars off of Mr. Tremont’s body, and that he had used part of this money to make these purchases with it.
* * * * * *
“Q. After he made the purchases at the Guarantee Store did he tell you whether or not he drove around town in Mr. Tremont’s car?
“A. Yes, sir, and he mentioned the fact that some boy hollered at him, and called this boy by name.
“Q. And did he tell you then what happened ?
“A. Yes, sir, he said that he drove the car behind the compress there, and he hit a tree with it.”

On cross-examination, Sheriff Hamilton testified:

“Q. In the statement that the boy made to you, did he tell you the reason that he carried Mr. Tremont down to the pasture, — or the reason that Mr. Tremont had asked him to carry him down there?
“A. Yes, sir.
[555]*555“Q. And what was that statement?
“A. He said he had talked to him about some girls.
“Q. And had he talked to him on several occasions about that same subject matter ?
“A. He told me that when he approached Mr. Tremont he said, ‘Do you remember me? I’m the one that you were talking with about some girls a year or so ago,’ and that is the way that — it was just one other time that was mentioned by Charlie Lee.”

The Sheriff further testified that he found the pistol where appellant said he had thrown it, and found a billfold containing M. J. Tremont’s driver’s license and other cards bearing his name and address as a result of what appellant told him.

Dr. Joseph Jachimczyk, who conducted the autopsy, described two distinct blunt lacerations over the left temporal and parietal areas of the scalp of the deceased and a broken neck, either of which, he testified, could have caused his death. He further testified that the cedar post could have caused such injuries.

Testifying in his own behalf, appellant admitted being present when Mr. Tremont was attacked and admitted that he confessed to killing him, but testified that the deceased told him that he had to get him a girl and he told him no; after he went into the pasture, as the deceased told him to, the deceased came over there and hit him on the arm; that he pulled out the pistol which was loaded with blank cartridges and fired it about five times. Then a truck drove up and a man came over the gate, picked up the cedar post and began beating Mr. Tremont. After he got through beating him, the stranger got Mr. Tremont’s car keys and billfold and handed them to him (appellant) and told him to get in the car and go back to town and tell that he (appellant) did it or he would get him or kill his mother and daddy, and he did so through fear.

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Foster v. State
400 S.W.2d 552 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1966)

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Bluebook (online)
400 S.W.2d 552, 1966 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 992, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/foster-v-state-texcrimapp-1966.