Long v. State

229 S.W.2d 366, 154 Tex. Crim. 587, 1950 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2168
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 15, 1950
Docket24686
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 229 S.W.2d 366 (Long 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
Long v. State, 229 S.W.2d 366, 154 Tex. Crim. 587, 1950 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2168 (Tex. 1950).

Opinions

WOODLEY, Judge.

[589]*589Appellant was charged in the count of the indictment upon which the case was submitted to the jury with the offense of murder without malice, such charge growing out of a collision between the Cadillac car driven by appellant, and a car driven by one Rogers in which his wife, the deceased Mrs. Mattie Rogers, was riding.

Such count of the indictment reads in part as follows:

“Harold Long * * * did then and there unlawfully, while intoxicated and under the influence of intoxicating liquor, drive and operate a motor vehicle, an automobile, upon a public highway of this State * * *, and did then and there in the execution of said unlawful act, through mistake and accident, kill Mrs. Mattie Rogers by then and there driving said automobile into and causing it to collide with the automobile occupied by the said Mrs. Mattie Rogers.”

Appellant was first convicted of such offense upon a trial in Swisher County, and upon appeal, this court reversed the judgment, the opinion being reported in 152 Texas Crim. Rep. 356, 214 S. W. 2d 303.

Thereafter, the venue being changed, the present conviction was had upon a trial in Hale County. The maximum punishment of five years in the penitentiary was assessed against appellant on each trial.

The material facts are stated in the former appeal and seem to be substantially the same as shown upon this trial.

Upon the present trial, in the court’s charge, the jury was informed as to the provisions of Art. 802, Vernon’s Ann. P. C., and as to the punishment for murder without malice, and in applying the law, the court instructed the jury as follows:

“4. Now, if you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was intoxicated or under the influence of intoxicating liquor at the time of the collision of his car with the car occupied by Mrs. Mattie Rogers, as charged in the indictment, you will find him guilty and assess his punishment at confinement in the penitentiary for a term not exceeding five years and not less than two, but if you have a reasonable doubt as to whether he was intoxicated or under the influence of intoxicating liquor you will find him not guilty.

“You are further charged, however, that even though you find and believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant [590]*590was intoxicated or under the influence of intoxicating liquor when his automobile collided with the automobile in which Mrs. Rogers was riding, if you find and believe that under the same or similar circumstances a reasonably prudent person who was not intoxicated nor under the influence of intoxicating liquor could not have avoided the collision, or if you have a reasonable doubt thereof, you will find the defendant not guilty.

“4a. If you find and believe from the evidence in this case that at and immediately prior to the time of the collision the defendant’s car slipped off of the pavement in question as he was approaching the on-coming Rogers car, and that when he attempted to pull it back on the pavement that for some reason unknown to the defendant the car went out of control and while out of control collided with the Rogers’ car producing the death of Mrs. Rogers, or if you have a reasonable doubt thereof, you will find the defendant not guilty.”

Appellant excepted to such charge as a whole and addressed many exceptions to the particular paragraphs above set out.

Under the decisions, the charge will be construed as a whole, and the exceptions considered in that light. See Ekern v. State, 150 Tex. Cr. R. 319, 200 S. W. 2d 412.

Paragraph 4a was not contained in the charge as originally prepared, but was added in response to the exceptions and request of appellant. The contention that such paragraph of the charge is contrary to the other paragraphs, if correct, will, under the circumstances, be of no avail to appellant. See Warren v. State, 135 Tex. Cr. R. 631, 122 S. W. 2d 301.

The complaints lodged against the charge, as we understand them, are in effect:

(1st) That the charge authorizes a conviction without the jury’s finding of a causal connection between the intoxication of appellant and the ultimate death of the deceased.

(2nd) That the charge is too restrictive in that it authorizes conviction upon a finding that appellant was intoxicated if the jury found that the collision could have been avoided by a sober driver under the same or similar circumstances, without requiring a finding by the jury otherwise that appellant drove his car into and caused it to collide with the other car.

(3rd) That appellant’s affirmative defense was not adequately submitted by the charge in Paragraph 4a.

[591]*591As pointed out in the opinion on former appeal 152 Tex. Crim. Rep. 356, 214 S. W. 2d 303, the defense raised by the testimony was that the collision was the result of appellant’s losing control of the car. Appellant testified in effect here, as in the former trial, that he did not know the exact cause of his losing control of the car beyond the facts testified to by him and comprehended in paragraph 4a of the charge. The effect of his testimony was that the accident was beyond his control and resulted independently of his condition of sobriety. This defense was submitted in accordance with the testimony of appellant raising such issue and in response to the request of appellant in his exceptions. No error is shown in the overruling of the exceptions raising this contention.

It appears plain that the first paragraph of paragraph 4 of the charge, standing alone, is subject to the exception that it does not comprehend the element of causal connection between the intoxication and the death of the deceased.

The charge as a whole must be condemned for failure to include that element, unless the second paragraph of the charge in paragraph 4 is sufficient to embrace the element of causal connection.

It has long been the holding of this court that in cases of this character causal connection must be shown as well as the death by accident while the accused was committing the offense of driving while intoxicated. Decisions to that effect are cited on the former appeal 152 Texas Crim. Rep. 356, 214 S. W. 2d 303.

The very charge in the indictment is that appellant killed the deceased by driving his automobile into and causing it to collide with the other automobile.

The question therefore to be determined is whether or not the second paragraph of Paragraph 4 of the court’s charge requires a sufficient finding by the jury that the intoxication caused the collision resulting in the ultimate death of the deceased.

It is shown without and beyond dispute that the collision between the two cars occurred on the highway while the cars were traveling in opposite directions; that the car in which the deceased was riding was being driven in a proper manner on its righhand side of the highway; that the car, with appellant [592]*592at the wheel, collided with such other car on appellant’s left-hand side of the highway, and that the death of Mrs. Rogers resulted from such collision.

The disputed issues were: (1) whether or not appellant was intoxicated at the time, and (2) whether such collision was attributable to such intoxication, or resulted independently of such intoxication.

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Long v. State
229 S.W.2d 366 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1950)

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Bluebook (online)
229 S.W.2d 366, 154 Tex. Crim. 587, 1950 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2168, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/long-v-state-texcrimapp-1950.