Stanley v. State

625 S.W.2d 320, 1981 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1235
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 10, 1981
Docket61130
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 625 S.W.2d 320 (Stanley 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
Stanley v. State, 625 S.W.2d 320, 1981 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1235 (Tex. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION

DALLY, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for the offense of voluntary manslaughter; the punishment is imprisonment for twenty years and a fine of $10,000. The trial was in Polk County after a change of venue from San Jacinto County.

The appellant asserts that a charge on provoking the difficulty was erroneously submitted to the jury, and his plea of former jeopardy was erroneously overruled.

The appellant’s testimony raised the issue of self defense, and an appropriate charge was submitted to the jury; however, a charge on provoking the difficulty that limited the right of self defense was also submitted to the jury. The appellant made a timely objection urging that there was no evidence to justify the charge on provoking the difficulty. The record sustains the appellant’s contention; we find the evidence did not raise the issue of provoking the difficulty.

It is error to charge on the issue of provoking the difficulty when the testimony does not raise that issue because it puts the defendant in the wrong and is a limitation on the right of self defense. King v. State, 104 Tex.Cr.R. 583, 286 S.W. 231 (1926); Roller v. State, 36 Tex.Cr.R. 496, 38 S.W. 44 (1896); 4 Branch’s 2d ed. 462, See. 2134 and many cases cited there.

A charge on provoking the difficulty should not be given unless self defense is an issue and there are facts in evidence which show that the deceased made the first assault on defendant and that the defendant, in order to have a pretext for killing or *322 inflicting bodily injury upon deceased, did some act or used some words intended to and calculated to bring on the difficulty. Carter v. State, 87 Tex.Cr.R. 200, 220 S.W. 385 (1920); Varnell v. State, 26 Tex.App. 56, 9 S.W. 65 (1888); 4 Branch’s 2d ed. 461, Sec. 2134.

The only evidence of the circumstances immediately preceding the appellant’s shooting of the deceased was the testimony of the appellant and Jo Ann Fletcher. The deceased, Oliver Ellisor, was the proprietor of a business enterprise in a rural area in San Jacinto County. Ellisor operated a grocery store, a washateria, a feed store, and a liquor store all in one building. Between 7:00 and 8:00 p.m. near closing time, the only people on the premises other than Ellisor, were two small children, Jo Ann Fletcher, and her sister Ora Lee Sykes, who were in the washateria. Ora Lee Sykes testified that she heard two shots and that was all she knew about the shooting.

Jo Ann Fletcher testified that she saw the appellant park his ear in front of the washateria; she waved at him, and about ten minutes later he backed out, and she thought he was gone. Soon thereafter the children came into the washateria and said, “They are fighting. Let’s go. Let’s go.” Jo Ann Fletcher walked to the door and saw Ellisor and the appellant fighting and struggling on the ground. She heard the appellant say, “You’re taking advantage of me because I’m crippled.” She heard Elli-sor say, “We’re not going to do this. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Ellisor then helped the appellant get up and they moved toward their vehicles. In a “little while” she heard a gun shot and heard Ellisor say, “Junior [the appellant’s nickname] you shot me.” She saw Ellisor run around the front of his vehicle and she heard another shot. Ellisor then ran into the washateria and she closed the doors. Ellisor told her to get his wife. The appellant came into the washateria; his face was bloody and he had a gun in his hand. The appellant then left and Jo Ann Fletcher went to get Ellisor’s wife. Fletcher came back to the washateria, and Ellisor was behind the washateria dead.

The appellant testified that he and Ellisor were friends, and that Ellisor had asked him to talk to another party about purchasing some property. Ellisor wanted to talk with appellant and he told Ellisor he would come talk to him in the evening about the time he closed his business. The appellant drove to the Ellisor’s place of business and waited in the car for Ellisor to come out. Ellisor came out and said, “Junior, why did you lie to me about the land?” The appiel-lant testified he had decided not to talk to the third party about the property; he responded, “What are you talking about, Oliver, about lying to you?” Ellisor again accused the appellant of lying and “one word led to another.” Ellisor then hit and kicked the appellant and he fell to the ground. Ellisor was kicking, beating and cursing the appellant. The appellant, while he was on the ground, reached under his car seat and obtained a chain with which he struck Ellisor in self defense. Ellisor said, “You black nigger, you, I’m going to kill you.” Ellisor then ran toward his truck in which the appellant knew Ellisor carried a shotgun that he would use. The appellant said he reached under his car seat again, got a pistol, and fired a warning shot at Ellisor. The appellant testified he believed Ellisor would kill him, and having no alternative he fired another shot which struck and killed Ellisor.

There was other testimony that a few hours prior to shooting Ellisor the appellant attempted to obtain an “unregistered pistol”; he stated at that time he was going “to kill Oliver Ellisor.” There is no evidence that Ellisor knew the appellant had a pistol in his car or that the appellant had said he was going to kill him.

The State argues that in addition to the appellant’s own testimony: “The State’s evidence thus showed a prior disposition to kill on the part of the appellant; preparations to kill; a fight with the deceased at his own place of business, and the firing of the first shot.” The State cites and relies on LaFarn v. State, 159 Tex.Cr.R. 562, 265 S.W.2d 816 (1954). The State’s brief quotes some of the facts taken from that opinion on origi *323 nal submission and then quotes a conclusion in the motion for rehearing that, “The facts clearly show a case of provoking the difficulty.” Since no charge on provoking the difficulty was submitted to the jury in that case, p. 819, the conclusion stated by the court is dicta. We do not find LaFarn v. State to be controlling.

The present case is much more like that of Jones v. State, 149 Tex.Cr.R. 119, 192 S.W.2d 155 (1946). We quote from the opinion in that case on rehearing:

“It has been said that a party may have a perfect right of self defense without being entirely free from blame or wrong doing in the matter. If his wrongful act was not intended to produce the occasion and was not reasonably calculated to do so — that is to provoke the very difficulty in question — his right of self defense would still be available to him. Mason v. State, 88 Tex.Cr.R. 642, 228 S.W. 952.
“Again it has been held in Crow v. State, 48 Tex.Cr.R. 419, 88 S.W.

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Bluebook (online)
625 S.W.2d 320, 1981 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1235, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stanley-v-state-texcrimapp-1981.