Reese v. State

151 S.W.2d 828, 142 Tex. Crim. 254, 1941 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 373
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided May 7, 1941·No. No. 21481·Published·Cited by 21 cases

Opinions

GRAVES, Judge.

Appellant received the penalty of death by the verdict of a jury for the murder of Lizzie Reinhart, and he appeals.

The facts reveal that appellant, a mature man, had been married, and his wife had been committed to a hospital for the insane, and at the time of this alleged tragedy he was then and had been for a few years living with the deceased as man and wife. They were looked upon as such by some of their neighbors. The deceased had borne appellant one son, twenty-two months old at the time of the woman’s death, and she was again pregnant, and there was taken from her dead body by the physician a full formed eight and one-half pound baby boy. Appellant was employed in delivering newspapers over a certain route each day, and lived with Lizzie Reinhart and the child in a house in Limestone County.

The body of Lizzie Reinhart was found wrapped up in a quilt by the side of the road in some Johnson grass on August 30, 1940, in Navarro County. Decomposition had set in at such time, and upon the performance of an autopsy upon her body a bullet was found in her head, it having passed through the cranium, and by a Caesarian section the unborn child was [259]*259brought from her body. This body when found was clothed in a white nightgown, wrapped in a sheet and a blanket, and also a tacked comfort. There was a wound on the left side of her head, and the bullet was taken out at the right side of the head. It was a 22 calibre bullet.

It was claimed by the sheriff of Limestone County, Mr. Simmons, that upon a permission given him by appellant, on September 6, 1940, he went to appellant’s home, on the road between Mexia and Tehuacana, and found some twine similar to twine found tied around the knees of the dead body, and also a mattress with two circles cut out of it, and the cotton in said circles was shown to have been removed, one place in said mattress being- about a foot and a half across each way, and another circle near the above one, both cut, not torn, out of the mattress.

Mr. Robertson, a deputy sheriff, went out to appellant’s home with the sheriff, and he found a 22 calibre pistol in a basket under some clothes in appellant’s home. A State chemist found human blood in the home of appellant, and also blood on an automobile that was identified as that of the appellant. He also found blood in the cotton remaining in the mattress found in appellant’s house.

There seemed to be some question as to the identity of the dead body, and four days after its burial it was exhumed and positively identified as that of Lizzie Reinhart.

There was, also shown an insurance policy on the life of the deceased, taken out by appellant and payable to him upon the death of Elizabeth Reese, at the age of thirty-three years, taken out February 27, 1939.

The State introduced two confessions of appellant, both similar, but the latter one possibly going into more particulars of the alleged offense, and we set out the latter in its entirety:

“The State of Texas, County of Limestone.
“I, Arlin F. Reese, being under arrest and charged with murder, and being warned by Clarence Ferguson that I do not have to make any statement at all, and that any statement I make may be used in evidence against me on my trial for the offense concerning which this confession is herein made, do [260]*260freely and without compulsion or persuasion make to the said Clarence Ferguson the following statement and confession:
“My name is Arlin F. Reese and I am 45 years old. I live in Limestone County out 3 miles west of Mexia, Texas. For about 3 years I have lived with Lizzie Reinhart. She was not my wife and I had never married her. I have a boy 22 months old by Lizzie Reinhart.
“On Wednesday morning, August 28, about 3 o’clock I got up and dressed and watered and fed my hogs and turned out some small chickens that I had fastened up. I came back in and got ready and left on the paper route as usual. I got through about 9:30 and came back home. The first thing that I done after I ate my food that morning was I helped peel and get ready a half bushel of pears. The rest of that day I did the usual things that "are done around a place. Late that afternoon I went and got some ice. I went to bed about 9 o’clock Wednesday night.
“On or about 3 or 3:30 Thursday morning I got up and dressed and tended to everything as usual. Lizzie was awake at the time I got up and dressed. When I got through with tending to things outside, I came back in the house and Lizzie seemed to be asleep. I had been studying about leaving* home on account of the condition that she was in and everything. I mean by this that I wasn’t married. It popped in my mind then that I decided to murder her. Some day before then I had decided to do this. So that morning which was Thursday morning, August 29, 1940, between 4 and 5 o’clock I went over and unlocked my cedar chest and got that 22 target pistol, walked over to the vanity and got a shell off the top of it. I loaded the gun, walked throug'h the dining room and kitchen into back screen in room through this room into her bedroom. I walked around to the side of the bed where she was laying and put the gun down about 6 or 8 inches of her left temple and fired the shot. She didn’t move or speak a word afterwards. I then pulled the cover up over her head, pulled the shades down in her bedroom, g*ot my baby and carried him out and put him in the back seat and went on my route as usual. This was the 22 months old baby.
“When I got off my route about 10 o’clock, I stopped over in Mexia for a little while and got home about 11 o’clock. I drove up by the side of my house in my car as usual, I got out and [261]*261walked around the place to see if everything was all right. Everything outside was all right. I did not go in the house. I went and got back in my car and came back through town and went down to my Aunt’s house on the south side of town on South Bonham Street. My Aunt’s name is Mrs. Mollie Thomas. I stayed there and talked to her generally something around 11/2 hours. I did not mention anything" to her about that crime. Her husband was in the from- bedroom asleep. He works at night. When I left Aunt Molly’s I got in the car and come back through Mexia and went out the Groesbeck highway about a mile on this side of Forrest Glade schoolhouse. I turned off the highway and went toward the Reunion Ground to see John Pearson, a negro, bout some he owed me on a paper. He was gone from home at the time and I did not go on down to his house. Another negro told me that he was not at home. So then I went on toward the Reunion Grounds until I hit the Reunion Grounds road and turned back toward town and stopped at Jack Echols Store. I bought the baby soda water to drink. I stayed there about 15 or 20 minutes. It was getting around 4 o’clock at this time. I come back to Ballard Grocery and bought some cookies and candy and I think a bottle of milk. I stayed there in town until after night. I left and went back out home which was about 9 or 9:30 o’clock of Thursday, August 29, 1940.
“I drove in and parked the car by the side of the house, got out and since my baby was asleep I just left him in the back seat of the car. I tended to everything before I went and unlocked the door to go inside. I taken my flashlight and went through the rooms to see if anything was wrong in there.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Reese v. State, 151 S.W.2d 828, 142 Tex. Crim. 254, 1941 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 373 (Tex. 1941).

151 S.W.2d 828 (Reese v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Dustin Merle Whaley v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Ronald Crenshaw v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002
Hill v. State
827 S.W.2d 860 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1992)
Hill v. State
787 S.W.2d 74 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Hawkins v. State
792 S.W.2d 491 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Huffman v. State
775 S.W.2d 653 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1989)
Dunn v. State
721 S.W.2d 325 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Ortiz v. State
661 S.W.2d 264 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Short v. State
511 S.W.2d 288 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1974)
Springer v. Baggs
500 S.W.2d 541 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1973)
Hardy v. State
496 S.W.2d 635 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1973)
Fernandez v. Beto
281 F. Supp. 207 (N.D. Texas, 1968)
Ramos v. State
419 S.W.2d 359 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1967)
Commonwealth v. Hessman
8 Pa. D. & C.2d 625 (Dauphin County Court of Quarter Sessions, 1956)
White v. State
289 S.W.2d 279 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1956)
Hatfield v. State
276 S.W.2d 829 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1955)
Jones v. State
243 S.W.2d 848 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1951)
Cloud v. State
202 S.W.2d 846 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1947)
Redd v. State
168 S.W.2d 251 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1943)