McCarthy v. State

218 S.W.2d 190, 153 Tex. Crim. 149, 1949 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1100
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 26, 1949
DocketNo. 24225
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 218 S.W.2d 190 (McCarthy 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
McCarthy v. State, 218 S.W.2d 190, 153 Tex. Crim. 149, 1949 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1100 (Tex. 1949).

Opinion

GRAVES, Judge.

Appellant was charged with drunken driving and through accident and mistake, striking and killing Johnny Schwab, an eight-year-old child, and upon conviction, he was given a term of three years in the state penitentiary.

Appellant filed a plea to the jurisdiction alleging that the offense charged herein was that of negligent homicide and but a misdemeanor of which the district court had no jurisdiction. In conjunction therewith he attacks the constitutionality of Articles 802, 802b and 802c, Vernon’s Ann. Tex. P. C., and insists that the allegations found herein are sufficient only to charge negligent homicide in the second degree; that appellant, while in the progress of committing an unlawful act, that is, drunken driving (which is a misdemeanor at this time for the first offense under Art. 802, P. C.) he killed Johnny Schwab. We think this Art. 802c, P. C. may have been called into being because of the inadequacy of the negligent homicide statute to meet changing times and new conditions that might arise because of the traffic upon our highways, and though it is possibly based primarily upon the law of negligence, it goes further and punishes the final outcome of thus driving. It might also be suggested that the statute recognizes the commission of a misdemeanor, that is, drunken driving, punished by Art. 802, supra; nevertheless, it cannot be said that having thus alleged, [151]*151it would hold all prosecutions under Art. 802c, supra, to the misdemeanor courts. In other words, one may carry a pistol unlawfully, a misdemeanor, and yet be guilty of a felony if an assault is made therewith while thus carried. While necessary to show that one was engaged in drunken driving, yet such is but a necessary preliminary to, although a part of, the offense actually committed; and in order to render nugatory in this instance Article 39, P. C., it punishes an act done by accident or mistake. We also think the phrase “the felony actually committed” in this statute means the unlawful taking of the life of Johnny Schwab. We have not heretofore held that it was necessary that the act of drunken driving should be a felonious act such as a second conviction therefor, nor do we now so hold, but we do hold that a person accused as is this appellant, is charged with murder. See Simmons v. State, 145 Tex. Cr. R. 448, 169 S. W. (2d) 171; Fox v. State, 145 Tex. Cr. R. 71, 165 S. W. (2d) 733.

Again, the contention is made that Art. 802c, supra, is not valid because of the fact that the body of the bill passed by the legislature enacting such into law contains three subjects contrary to Art. 3, Sec. 35 of the state constitution. This statute is a part of Chapter 507, page 819, Acts of the 47th Legislature, Regular Session (1941). Such chapter does amend Art. 802, P. C. (1925) as well as adding Art. 802c to the Penal Code, the latter being the statute upon which this action is based.

Article 3, Section 35 of our constitution says in substance that no bill, with certain exceptions, shall contain more than one subj ect, which shall be expressed in its title. It has been often held that a liberal construction of this section will be applied by the courts. See Gammel’s Edition (1922), Constitution of Texas, and cases cited on page 65 thereof.

We submit that Articles 802, 802b, and 802c, all relate to the same subject matter, namely, drunken driving, and we think the legislature was correct in embodying all three articles in one enactment. See Ruedas v. State, 143 Tex. Cr. R. 291, 158 S. W. (2d) 500; Brandon v. State, 146 Tex. Cr. R. 480, 176 S. W. (2d) 323, both cases being directly in point.

It is further contended that the statute, Art. 802c, is inoperative at this time because at the time of its enactment it was a felony to drive while intoxicated upon a public highway; that the 47th Legislature, in the above amendment to Art. 802, reduced the original offense to a misdemeanor and, therefore, [152]*152the phrase “to the felony actually committed”, referring to the drunken driving is found with “no felony” actually committed, but a mere misdemeanor. We do not agree with such a construction of the statute. That phrase refers to the act done by mistake or accident and makes such act punishable. In this instance such phrase refers to the causing of the death of the little boy. If this killing were intentional, then same would have been murder, a felony; and in the absence of Art. 802c, such act could have been shown to have been an accident or mistake, and therefore, one charged therewith could have invoked the provisions of Art. 39, P. C. Not so, however, since the enactment of Art. 802c, provided the person committing the accidental act was driving while intoxicated. Had he done such act intentionally, he would have committed a felony, to-wit, murder, and could be tried for such under the murder statute.

We think the trial court was correct in charging the jury on murder without malice as alleged in the indictment.

Appellant filed a proper request asking the trial court to submit to the jury the matter of a suspension of his sentence in the event of a conviction, and the trial court instructed the jury relative thereto.

In the present instance, the facts show that on February 27, 1948, in Dallas County, on the Dallas to Grapevine Highway, the road near Dallas was at places under water caused by the overflow of a fork of the Trinity River. In that afternoon three children of John W. Schwab, who lived near the highway, in company with Lorie Willis, a neighbor’s girl, were walking single file along this highway, the waters of the river having reached near the shoulders of such road. The Schwab children were Johnny, 8 years old; Jackie, 10 years old; and Mary Helen, 12 years old. They were skipping rocks in the adjacent waters when, without any warning, the Schwab children were struck by appellant who was driving a pick-up truck. Jackie and Mary Helen were knocked into the water about waist deep to the side of the road, and the little eight-year-old Johnny was struck and died shortly thereafter from his injuries. Appellant seems to have stopped his truck and gone back to where the children lay. He witnessed the act of the Willis girl who went into the water and rescued Jackie. He also must have seen the little boy lying helpless and evidently dying by the roadside. He then got in the truck and left at a high rate of speed. Some distance away, he lost control of the pick-up and it ran into a water-filled ditch on his left-hand side and turned over. Appellant [153]*153extricated himself therefrom about the time some persons who were pursuing him arrived, and he was eventually taken in charge by officers and placed in jail.

That he was under the influence of intoxicating liquor was proven by a large array of witnesses but such was denied by appellant.

In the argument to the jury relative to the suspension of sentence the state’s attorney stated in substance that a suspended sentence meant that the jury would give this man one free killing if they suspended his sentence under facts similar to those in the present case. An objection was made as follows:

“Mr. Reinhart : Now, your Honor—
“The Court: What is it?
“Mr.Reinhart : We object to the remark of the District Attorney, of one free killing, as being highly prejudicial and not borne out by the facts and not within the evidence of the record in this case, and I ask your Honor to admonish the jury to disregard it.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
218 S.W.2d 190, 153 Tex. Crim. 149, 1949 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccarthy-v-state-texcrimapp-1949.