Haynie v. State

21 S.W.2d 724, 113 Tex. Crim. 650, 1929 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 767
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 20, 1929
DocketNo. 11959.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 21 S.W.2d 724 (Haynie 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
Haynie v. State, 21 S.W.2d 724, 113 Tex. Crim. 650, 1929 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 767 (Tex. 1929).

Opinion

HAWKINS, Judge.

The killing of John Lain occurred at Stanton in Martin County. Venue was changed to Midland County where a trial resulted in conviction for murder with penalty of fifteen years in the penitentiary.

The evidence reveals the following facts. Appellant operated a cafe in the town of Stanton. On the day of the killing deceased came into the cafe about noon. He was inquiring for and cursing one Arthur Woody in very obscene language; Woody was not in the cafe; appellant requested deceased not to use such language in the presence of his wife and daughter and insisted that he leave the cafe; deceased seemed to take umbrage at this, thinking appellant was taking Woody’s part. Other persons present induced deceased to leave; in about thirty minutes he returned and he and appellant engaged in a fight. Witnesses present seemed unable to say who struck the first blow in this encounter. Appellant claimed that deceased was the aggressor; during the fight appellant struck deceased a blow on the head with a hammer and appellant was severely choked by deceased; bystanders separated them and put deceased out of the cafe. After having the wound on his head made by the hammer dressed by a physician deceased again returned to the cafe and ordered a cup of coffee; he seemed to think appellant *652 had struck him with a pistol, but was told by parties present that he had been struck with a hammer; he was urging appellant to come outside and' fight him; the sheriff had been called and reached the cafe while deceased was there on this visit; deceased’s wife was with him and was urging him to go with. her to the hotel where they lived; the sheriff told him unless he went away and stayed it would be necessary to lock him up. Appellant had requested the sheriff to keep deceased away from the café. He left with his wife but in about thirty minutes again returned. It was on this occasion that the killing occurred. State’s witnesses gave testimony which would warrant the conclusion that deceased sat down on a stool at the counter and was looking at a newspaper spread out before him and that appellant shot him without any demonstration having been made by deceased ;' appellant’s evidence was to the effect that deceased reached across the counter, caught appellant in the collar and pulled him toward deceased, who at the same time made a movement with his hand in his sweater pocket which led appellant to believe that deceased was going to shoot him, whereupon appellant began to fire. Deceased had seven, wounds on his body, some evidently made by the same bullet. Five or six shots were fired, all by appellant. Deceased was a much heavier and stronger man than appellant who professed to be afraid of deceased. During one of -deceased’s visits to the cafe some money transaction occurred between appellant and deceased regarding a check which deceased had. Whether appellant had given the check originally or indorsed it is somewhat confused; at any rate appellant paid deceased some money in the transaction, and deceased appeared to be satisfied with that adjustment of the matter.

A point raised in the ninth bill of exception may have been abandoned by appellant but in view of another trial we advert to it briefly. When the case was called for trial in Midland County appellant claimed that the court there was without jurisdiction on the ground that the court records in Martin County — where the case originated — failed to show that the indictment was returned into open court by a grand jury. It seems to have been admitted that the court minutes of Martin County were then silent on the subject. The case was passed for the term. At the next term of court held in Martin County a nunc pro tunc order was entered on the minutes showing proper presentment of the indictment, and in a supplemental transcript such order was sent to Midland County. It was not claimed in the first instance that no indictment had been *653 returned but only that the minutes of the court in Martin County failed to show it. The state insists that it was a matter which should have been presented in limine in Martin County before the order changing, the venue was made. The state’s position is sustained by the following authorities. Caldwell v. State, 41 Texas 86; Loggins v. State, 8 Tex. Cr. App. 434; Barr v. State, 16 Tex. Cr. App. 333; Serrato v. State, 74 Tex. Cr. R. 413, 171 S. W. 1133; Vasquez v. State, 76 Tex. Cr. R. 37, 172 S. W. 226.

Complaint is made in bill of exception number seven because the state was permitted to introduce in evidence a blood stained sweater worn by deceased at the time of the killing. When objection was interposed counsel for the state remarked that “the only thing we are offering it for is to show the nearest hole to the pocket. The pocket really is the main thing we are offering.” To understand the relevancy of this evidence it is necessary to revert to appellant’s testimony. He claimed that deceased reached over the counter, caught appellant in the collar with his left hand and had his right hand in his sweater pocket, and raised that hand up and forward, still having it in the pocket; that it was then appellant began firing, thinking deceased had a pistol in his pocket. Appellant claimed that deceased never removed his hand from the pocket during the firing of the five or six shots, and that he still had it in the pocket when he was lying on the sidewalk after the shooting. It was the state’s claim that deceased made no demonstration whatever. There was a bullet hole in deceased’s.right hand. If the shooting occurred under the circumstances detailed by appellant there must of necessity have been a bullet hole in the sweater pocket. There was none. The sweater itself was the best evidence to refute appellant’s testimony that deceased kept- his right hand in his pocket during the entire shooting. It is permissible to introduce bloody clothing worn by deceased when they serve to solve some question and throw light upon a matter connected with the proper solution of the case and aid the jury in arriving at the very truth of the matter. Many authorities are collated under Sec. 1855, Branch’s Ann. Tex. P. C. See also Reagan v. State, 70 Tex. Cr. R. 498, 157 S. W. 483; Trigg v. State, 99 Tex; Cr. R. 376, 269 S. W. 782; King v. State, 104 Tex. Cr. R. 583, 286 S. W. 230.

This killing occurred prior to the amendment of the statute defining murder (Acts 40th Leg. Chapter 274, page 412) and upon the trial it became necessary for the court to submit the issue of *654 manslaughter. In defining such offense the court used this language :

“Manslaughter is voluntary homicide, committed under the immediate influence of sudden passion arising from an adequate cause, but neither justified nor excused by law.” (Italics ours.)

No further explanation is made of the term “under the immediate influence of sudden passion,” save to inform the jury that the act must be directly caused by the passion arising out of the provocation and that the passion referred to was either anger, rage, sudden resentment or terror, which rendered the mind incapable of cool reflection. The court went no further in defining “adequate cause” generally than to tell the jury it meant such as would commonly produce the passion mentioned in a person of ordinary temper.

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Related

Porter v. State
215 S.W.2d 889 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1948)
Gooch v. State
158 S.W.2d 806 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1942)
Langford v. State
58 S.W.2d 115 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1933)
Haynie v. State
34 S.W.2d 285 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1930)

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Bluebook (online)
21 S.W.2d 724, 113 Tex. Crim. 650, 1929 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 767, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haynie-v-state-texcrimapp-1929.