McLain v. State

383 S.W.2d 407, 1964 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1092
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 27, 1964
Docket36896
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 383 S.W.2d 407 (McLain 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
McLain v. State, 383 S.W.2d 407, 1964 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1092 (Tex. 1964).

Opinions

BELCHER, Commissioner.

The conviction is for murder; the punishment, life.

. The appellant was charged with killing-Cornelia (Connie) Williams on or about April 18, 1963, by shooting her with a gun. Connie Williams was the wife of Curtis. (Bennie) Williams, with whom the appellant had been intimate during their visits-of two or three times a week for a period of' about ten months before the death of Connie Williams.

At approximately 3:50 p.m., April 18, 1963, a badly burned body was found in a rural garbage pit in Victoria County. From the jewelry removed from the body and the dental work which Connie Williams’ dentist compared with his dental charts, the body was identified as that of Connie Williams by the members of her family and the dentist.

An autopsy performed on the body of the deceased showed that her death was caused by a bullet which passed through the aorta and into the heart. Three bullets were removed from the body of the deceased; and an analysis of deceased’s blood revealed that the blood type was Group O,. R.H. Positive.

Appellant strenuously challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction.

[409]*409The testimony of Bennie Williams reveals that he and his wife, the deceased, had lived three miles from El Toro on the Vanderbilt road west of Edna and about fifteen miles from Victoria. Bennie Williams met the appellant at a tavern in Victoria in July 1962, and since that time they had gone together two or three times a week until April 18, and had been intimate almost every time. They talked about living together approximately four months after they first met. They had several quarrels which arose out of Bennie Williams’ dancing with other women, but they “made up” after each quarrel. The appellant asked Bennie Williams if he could get a divorce, and when he told her he could not, she said if he ever left his wife she would live with him. On Saturday night, April 13, they had another dispute about his dancing with another woman, and he told appellant he did not want to see her (appellant) anymore. However, on April 17, Wednesday night, Bennie Williams returned to appellant’s trailer house. During this visit, when he told her he was going to spend more time with his wife and family, the appellant asked him if anything ever happened to his wife if he would come back to her, and Bennie Williams said “yes, I guess so.” Then he told her he “would probably see her Saturday night” and left to go to his home.

The appellant was married but during her acquáintance with Bennie Williams she and her husband were separated, and on February 7, 1963, they were divorced. They had two sons, one of whom lived with his father and the other, Harold McLain, Jr., lived with his mother (the appellant) in a trailer house in Victoria. Appellant told Harold Jr. that Bennie Williams was not married.

Before April 18, the appellant did not know and had never seen Bennie Williams’ wife, nor did the latter know nor had she ever seen the appellant, and she did not know that her husband, Bennie Williams, was acquainted with or was dating the appellant.

Harold McLain, Jr. testified that Bennie Williams had been coming to Victoria to see his mother, the appellant, two or three times a week for about ten months; that on April 17, the appellant came home in a black Buick, with red trim, which she had borrowed from Pete Wrigge to use while her car was being repaired, and she parked the Buick on the other side of the trailer park from her trailer house; that the next morning, April 18, she awakened him about 7:30 or 8, left in the Buick, and returned about 8:30 or 9 a. m.

At this point, the state pleaded surprise as to Harold’s testimony about appellant’s movements and statements and the time they occurred, during the morning of April 18, and proof was offered in support of its position. To contradict Harold’s testimony the state introduced a portion of his written statement, which recites in part as follows:

“On Thursday, April 18, 1963, my mother woke me up at 6:30 a. m. She said she was leaving and wouldn’t be back until about 11:30 a. m. She didn’t say where she was going. She left in the Buick because I could tell by the loud noise that it made. The Dodge was parked by my window. I got up at about 8:30 and went to Fergusion’s Drug Store for breakfast. I then went back home and my mother came home about 10 a. m. and parked the Buick in the same place that it was parked before. She changed clothes and took a shower. About 10:30 a. m. she drove the Buick back to Wriggie’s and I followed in the Dodge. She then drove the Dodge to work and I drove the Dodge back home. I stayed around home most of the day. Some girl that worked with my mother brought her home about 9 p. m. She then told me that if anyone asked me anything that I should tell them that the Buick wasn’t moved and that she didn’t use it, and that she had been home all morning Thursday morning, and that Rose had taken her to work at 10:30 a. m. Thursday Morning, April 18, 1963. I have [410]*410read this statement and it is true and correct.”

About 7:20 a. m., on April 18, a neighbor who was on the same rural telephone line with the deceased — which line provided distinguishing rings for the two telephones— heard, at several intervals, the one ring indicated for the Williams’ (deceased’s) residence, as distinguished from the two successive rings for her own telephone.

Another neighbor, whose residence was nearby that of the deceased, testified that deceased appeared excited about 7:30 a. m., April 18; that she did not see the deceased leave, but when she went to her home at 12 noon the deceased was not there, and her housework was undone, which was, for her, unusual.

The witness Kutac testified that while traveling toward El Toro about 8 a. m., April 18, she saw a 1957 black Buick with a red stripe parked off the pavement on the right hand side of the road a short distance from and facing the store at El Toro; that the occupant of the automobile had the left hand and face on the steering wheel, looking away from the road; that the person was wearing a red scarf with a black binding but she could not identify the person. She further testified that about ten days later she saw and examined a 1957 black Buick with a red stripe at the Sheriff’s Office in Victoria and that it was the same car she had previously seen parked on the El Toro road.

The operator of a grocery store at El Toro testified that the deceased lived about two miles from the store; that shortly before or after 8 a. m., April 18, the deceased drove her car into the store’s driveway and remained seated in the car. Five minutes later the automobile was still there but the deceased was gone although the store manager never saw her leave. Deceased’s automobile remained parked at the store until her relatives came looking for her about 3 p. m. that day.

When,the witness Wilburn, a rice farmer, stopped at the store in El Toro about 8:10 a. m., April 18, he saw deceased’s car parked at the store but no one was in it. After leaving the store and passing the garbage pit, he saw ahead of him a woman getting-out of a car on the passenger side and as he-came to the car, which was a black Buick with a red stripe, he observed that the-woman was in a hurry and had an unpleasant expression on her face. This occurred between 8:40 and 9 a. m., April 18, about 1.4 miles from the garbage pit. As Wilburn was passing the car he almost stopped because of the driver opening her car door and starting to get out.

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Travis v. State
416 S.W.2d 417 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1967)
McLain v. State
383 S.W.2d 407 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
383 S.W.2d 407, 1964 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mclain-v-state-texcrimapp-1964.