McCallum v. State

267 S.W.2d 823, 160 Tex. Crim. 173, 1954 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1881
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 17, 1954
DocketNo. 26,845
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 267 S.W.2d 823 (McCallum 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
McCallum v. State, 267 S.W.2d 823, 160 Tex. Crim. 173, 1954 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1881 (Tex. 1954).

Opinions

BELCHER, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of murder without malice upon an indictment charging that he did “voluntarily and with malice aforethought kill Gus. L. Pierce by some means and manner to the Grand Jurors unknown,” and his punishment was assessed at five years in the penitentiary.

The sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction is challenged in two particulars, which are: (1) that the evidence is insufficient to establish the corpus delicti, and (2) that if the corpus delicti has been shown, there is no evidence that appellant was criminally connected therewith.

In order to establish the corpus delicti in cases of homicide, there must be shown a criminal act and the resulting death, and the agency of the accused in its commission. This proof may be made by circumstantial evidence. Bell v. State, 149 Texas Cr. R. 509, 196 S.W. 2d 923; West v. State, 116 Texas Cr. R. 469, 34 S.W. 2d 253.

[175]*175If the criminal act resulting in the death of the deceased has been shown, the guilt of the accused is established when the evidence shows that he was criminally connected with the death of the deceased.

The facts in this case must be examined and applied in the light of these rules.

The state relies upon circumstantial evidence to establish the offense charged.

The testimony shows that appellant and the deceased began bowling at the Lubbock Bowling Alley about 8 P.M. on April 30, 1953; that they had some argument and a scuffle, with no injuries, which soon ended and they continued in a good humor until about 11:30 or 11:40 P.M., on April 30, when they got into appellant’s automobile; and that both were drinking.

Argust Curtis testified that some 35 minutes later (about 12:10 or 12:15 A.M.), he saw appellant stop his automobile in front of the hospital with one man (the deceased) in the automobile, to whom the appellant said: “Gus, we’re at the hospital. Do you want to go in here, or do you want me to take you home?” The deceased did not answer the question. The witness stated he offered to help the appellant but that appellant declined saying “No, he’s as able to go in the hospital as I am.” The witness said that he left the scene for a moment and upon his return observed the appellant trying to pick up the deceased who was lying face down on the ground, and that he helped place him in the emergency room; that when appellant was asked how it happened and where “he said that he didn’t know anything about it, that he picked him up out at the edge of town, and brought him to the hospital”; that appellant stayed there two or three minutes, then left to telephone his wife and returned about forty-five minutes or an hour later at which time he was cleaned up and had on a clean shirt.

Police.Officer Stephens testified that he was standing inside the emergency room door when he saw appellant stop his automobile at the hospital between 12:05 and 12:15 A.M.; that he asked what happened and appellant said “I found him out on the Tahoka or the Lamesa Highway, laying beside the road,” and appellant further said “I don’t know who the man was. I just found him out there.” He further testified that he smelled liquor on appellant and saw blood on his shirt.

[176]*176Deputy Sheriffs Harvey and Chapman testified that they saw appellant about 1:50 A.M. and asked him if he was the man that brought the injured man to the hospital; that appellant said “What injured man?”; then later told them that he did bring the man in; that they got the shirt appellant had removed and it had blood on it with one button hole torn out; that he took them six miles out on the Slaton Highway and pointed out the place “where it happened.” Witness Chapman said “Mr. McCallum told us that he could take us out there to the spot where the deceased fell out of the car.” At this place they “found a pair of glasses * * * lower plate of false teeth, which the defendant said belonged to Mr. Pierce, and a cigarette holder he said belonged to him;” and, in describing the condition of the ground where these articles were found, said: “the wind had swept the ground very clean, * * * there weren’t no loose dirt left on the ground surface at all, * * * and the surface was very hard and there weren’t no large rocks at all,” but there were some small ones “about the size of a golf ball, at the largest;” and they found “ a spot of blood on a pebble where these other articles were found.”

Dr. Lane testified as follows: “The nurse called me at approximately 12:15 * * * that the man was in the emergency room * * * and I saw him * * * about 12:25, pronounced him dead.” He expressed the conclusion that he was dead when he reached the hospital, and the nurse testified that he had no pulse at that time. “He had a few lacerations about the face, and he had an obvious fracture in his jaw;” that he did not make a complete examination of the deceased.

Dr. Fred Kallina, County Health Officer of Lubbock County, testified that on May 1, 1953, he performed an autopsy on the body of Gus L. Pierce and found external bruises over the entire body; that there were massive bruises over the entire scrotum; that there were numerous bruises and' abrasions on the right leg, right ankle, right knee, and the left knee; that there were numerous abrasions on the right hand and right forearm; the left jaw bone was fractured and a half-inch laceration on the left side of the chin from one-fourth to one-half inches in depth; that there was a three-fourth inch incision into the right side of the mouth; there were numerous bruises on the right cheek and right jaw bone and underneath the right ear; there were lacerations on the forehead and right temple. There was a bruise one and one-half inches long and one inch across which was indented into the skull in the midline of the forehead near the vertex of the skull extending through the [177]*177tables of bone in the skull into the brain tissue; a bruise one inch wide and one and one-half inches long under the left ear; there was a wound on the back of the skull which extended into the brain tissue; and that there were indications of inter-cranial hemorrhage. He further testified that, in his opinion, the injuries to the forehead and on the back of the head caused the death of Gus L. Pierce, that is, death was caused by concussion.

Appellant testified that he and the deceased had been friends for several years and had been together frequently; that they, with others, engaged in several bowling games during the evening of April 30, 1953; that they drank some whisky during the time they were bowling; that an argument arose between he and the deceased about the marking of the score during which the deceased struck him twice, which disagreement they settled in a friendly manner; that they left the bowling alley in his automobile about 11:40 P.M., drove around to sober up the deceased, then to take him home; that they drank whisky twice along the road, after which the deceased said he was sick at which time appellant said “Well, Gus, if you are going to get sick, don’t get sick in the car.

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Related

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275 S.W.2d 821 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
267 S.W.2d 823, 160 Tex. Crim. 173, 1954 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1881, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccallum-v-state-texcrimapp-1954.