Orr v. State

278 S.W.2d 301, 161 Tex. Crim. 529, 1955 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1477
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 9, 1955
Docket27460
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 278 S.W.2d 301 (Orr 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
Orr v. State, 278 S.W.2d 301, 161 Tex. Crim. 529, 1955 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1477 (Tex. 1955).

Opinions

WOODLEY, Judge.

Appellant and one Joe Taylor were charged by indictment with, theft of one cattle from Herbert Line, alleged to have been committed on or about May 8, 1954. The indictment contained allegations of prior convictions against both appellant and Joe Taylor, the allegation being that appellant was convicted in Bowie County for felony theft on October 24, 1946, and Joe Taylor was convicted in Morris County on April 26, 1946, for a like offense.

Appellant was separately tried and the jury, under a charge submitting the punishment for cattle theft and also the enhancement authorized by Art. 62 P.C., returned a verdict finding appellant guilty as charged and assessing his punishment at 10 years in the penitentiary.

The state relied upon circumstantial evidence. Appellant did not testify and urges that the evidence is not sufficient to sustain the jury’s verdict. This requires a full statement of the evidence.

Appellant, Johnnie Orr, Sr., on and prior to May 8, 1954, resided in the 1600 block of Spruce Street, in Texarkana. He was employed in the office of a building materials warehouse by Mr. Johnnie Thompson, for whom he had worked for some time, and had been regularly employed for 6 or 8 months. On the afternoon of Friday, May 7, 1954, around 3:30 or 4 o’clock, Mr. Thompson paid appellant his wages and he left the warehouse in company with Joe Taylor, carrying with him the shirt, trousers and shoes later found in Taylor’s car, and the keys to the Thompson warehouse. Mr. Thompson, his employer, did not see him again until some two months later. He testified that appellant called him from Dallas and then came to Texarkana, met him under a pre-arranged plan and they located the sheriff [531]*531and appellant made bond to answer the indictment herein that had been returned against him. Mr. Thompson testified that during a former employment appellant left without telling him he was going and took a job in San Angelo.

On the night of Saturday, May 8, 1954, about 9:30 or 10 o’clock, Texas Highway Patrolman Rhyne Henderson, accompanied by Henry Slaton, a policeman of the city of Texarkana, drove out the Summerhill Road, a black-top Farm to Market road, for a distance of some five and one-half miles from Texarkana. They returned off on a sandy country road leading from the Summerhill Road to the Richmond Road, and after traveling for some two miles, noticed a car parked on a woods road. It was in the edge of the woods and some 100 feet from the cut-off road they were traveling.

The car proved to be the Plymouth car owned by Joe Taylor.

The car lights were on, the trunk lid was raised, and a white sheet was spread out in the trunk. In front of the car and some 15 feet away the officers observed in the lighted area a partially skinned heifer calf laying on a sheet.

In the car were found, in addition to articles apparently belonging to Joe Taylor, a pair of khaki trousers, belt and shirt, a billfold containing a “driver’s license” and a social security card issued to appellant. In a trousers pocket was found a set of Oldsmobile car keys and keys to Mr. Thompson’s warehouse, which were identified by Mr. Thompson as his, and a credit card issued to Johnnie S. Orr. On the inside of the trousers, written in ink, was the name Johnnie Orr.

A pair of glasses was found laying on the car seat which was identified as those worn by appellant. Mr. Thompson, his employer, recognized them and testified that appellant wore such glasses while working for him. A pair of shoes, which Mr. Thompson thought belonged to appellant, were also in the car with mud and cow manure on the soles.

Also found in the trousers was a letter addressed to appellant, Johnnie S. Orr, Sr., 1609 Spruce Street, Texarkana, Texas, dated and postmarked at Austin, May 6, 1954. The letter was from the Texas Employment Commission.

There is evidence in the record to the effect that ordinarily a letter mailed at Austin would be delivered in Texarkana the [532]*532second day thereafter, though it was possible if the letter went out of Austin on an early train it could be delivered in Texarkana the following day.

A half-gallon fruit jar filled with gasoline was also found in the car.

On the ground at and near the scene were found a meat saw, a sledge hammer and a rope, and later a skinning knife and steel were found nearby.

The khaki trousers and shirt were laying across the seat of the car.

No one was found at the scene. Joe Taylor was arrested in Arkansas on May 10th, where he was found under the bed in “a little shot-gun house.” “His arms were scratched awfully bad, and he was scratched across his stomach - - deep scratches, like barbed wire - - they were fresh.”

A search was instituted for appellant but he was not found and not arrested until he surrendered to the sheriff and made bond some two months later.

A calf was alleged to have been stolen from Herbert Line who, the evidence discloses, was county judge of Bowie County. The state also relied upon circumstantial evidence to identify the partly skinned calf found near the Plymouth car. Neither Judge Line nor Edward Miller, who lived on his farm, were able to positively identify the head, hide or carcass as that of the calf missing from the Line Farm.

The 153 acre farm belonging to Judge Line was located on the east side of the Summerhill Road, some two miles from Texarkana.

On the afternoon of Saturday, May 8, 1954, Judge Line, as was his custom, went to his farm and remained there until about dark. His cattle, some 40 head in all, were in the middle pasture when he left the farm and he closed the gap in the cross fence and the gate that led into the Summerhill Road as he was leaving. He returned early the following morning and found his cattle scattered along the Summerhill Road. His gate and gap were open.

Judge Line and Miller checked the herd when they got them [533]*533back to the farm and found a calf missing. As to the missing calf, Judge Line testified: “When you raise a bunch of yearlings and cows such as I raised those, you know every single one in the bunch. The mother of the calf which was missing was one of two I called my twin heifers. I raised them both at the same time on one of my Jersey cows.”

“ . . . I checked the twin heifers although they had calves. One of these heifers’ calf was with her and the other one was not. ... It was a heifer calf. That calf was right close to a year old. It was - - I would say it would weight on foot between two hundred and fifty (250) and two hundred and seventy-five (275) pounds. It was a red calf with quite a bit of white on it. A lot of my calves don’t have solid white faces. This calf had quite a bit of motley on it. It was a half-breed.

“Q. It was a motley-faced calf? A. That’s correct.”

He further testified that he saw the head and hide of the = calf which the sheriff had on storage at the locker plant and testified: “I wouldn’t positively say it was. To look at a hide and head after it has been butchered, they look pretty much alike, but not having a mark on the calf or brand, I wouldn’t say that I positively identify the calf. ... I will say it looked like my calf. ... I feel that it was my calf.”

The missing calf was unbranded and unmarked, and no brand or mark was found on the head or hide of the butchered heifer calf. No one claimed the calf found at the car other than Judge Line.

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Related

Grego v. State
456 S.W.2d 123 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1970)
Harding v. State
431 S.W.2d 554 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1968)
Orr v. State
278 S.W.2d 301 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1955)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
278 S.W.2d 301, 161 Tex. Crim. 529, 1955 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1477, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orr-v-state-texcrimapp-1955.