Thornley v. State

78 S.W.2d 601, 127 Tex. Crim. 583, 1935 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 41
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 23, 1935
DocketNo. 17159
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 78 S.W.2d 601 (Thornley 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
Thornley v. State, 78 S.W.2d 601, 127 Tex. Crim. 583, 1935 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 41 (Tex. 1935).

Opinion

CHRISTIAN, Judge.

The offense is rape; the punishment, confinement in the penitentiary for 99 years.

Prosecutrix, Clara Smith, who was eight years of age, lived with her mother, Mrs. Ida Smith, and two small brothers, aged ten and twelve, in the city of San Antonio. Russell Moore, who was eighteen years of age, lived in the same home. Appellant, who was twenty-four years of age, was a corporal in the army. [584]*584He frequently visited in the home of prosecutrix, and, according to his testimony, was having sexual relations with Mrs. Ida Smith. However, this was denied' by Mrs. Smith. On the night of the alleged rape Mrs. Smith had gone to a picture show with one Steves, a private in the regular army. She left at her home a soldier by the name of Talley, appellant, Russell Moore, her two small sons, and prosecutrix. She returned from the show about 9:30 p. m. According to her testimony, when she reached home the lights were out and the door locked. Appellant let her in. She testified that he was “as pale as a sheet,” and that when she asked him to account for his demeanor, he made no reply. Finally he told her that prosecutrix had cried herself to sleep. We quote from her testimony as follows: “I picked the baby up, (referring to prosecutrix) and took her in the kitchen and bathed her face with a wet towel, and again asked her what the matter was, and she said it was a man. I asked Thornley (appellant) if he knew about the baby being hurt and he said he knew nothing. I said ‘Thornley are you guilty of this?’ and Thornley answered that it didn’t make any difference to me whether he was guilty or not guilty.”

Finally appellant stated to the witness that he did not know who was guilty. Prosecutrix would not tell her mother who had assaulted her. On the night of November 12, 1933, the date of the alleged rape, prosecutrix was examined by a physician at the hospital at Fort Sam Houston, who testified that he made the examination between 9 and 11 o’clock at the instance of prosecutrix’s mother. He testified further that prosecutrix’s night dress was stained with blood and that there was blood on her thigh and over her abdomen; that the hymen was lacerated; that the hymen had been penetrated shortly prior to the time he made the examination; that he did not know whether prosecutrix had been penetrated by a man; that Mrs. Smith told him she thought she knew who committed the assault but was not sure; that prosecutrix said that she did not know who assaulted her.

Prosecutrix testified, in substance, as follows: After her mother had gone to the picture show appellant told her and her brothers to go to bed. She started to bed in the room with her brothers, but appellant told her to go into another room. After she had gone to bed appellant came into the room, got in bed with her, and raped her. She screamed and Russell Moore came to the door and asked appellant why she was crying. Appellant replied that there was nothing wrong. Moore [585]*585then went back to bed. She did not tell her mother or the doctor who examined her that appellant was guilty because she was afraid of him. When she screamed appellant said: “You shut up, you little brat or I will slap your face for you.”

Prosecutrix’s two small brothers testified to having heard her scream and further to having heard appellant say “Shut up, you little brat.” Moreover, they testified that appellant came from prosecutrix’s room after she screamed and went to the kitchen where he washed his hands. He was dressed in his underwear.

Russell Moore had not been found and did not appear as a witness. Appellant introduced in evidence, without objection on the part of the State, an affidavit made by Moore two days after the alleged assault. We quote the pertinent portions of the affidavit as follows: “About 6:45 p. m. the soldier called ‘Pest,’ came to the house, and took Mrs. Smith to the Post Theater at 6:50 p. m. ‘Pest’ is from the 9th Infantry. I have known ‘Pest’ about a month. I have seen him at Mrs. Smith’s house two times, but have seen him at the camp in Frogtown many times. Corporal Thornley was at the house when the soldier known as ‘Pest’ and Mrs. Smith left for the show. I went to bed at about 7:30 p. m. and about 15 minutes after I went to bed I heard little sister scream. I got up and went into the front room and I heard Clara Smith say, ‘Thornley, I am going to tell my mother on you.’ I then went back into the room where I slept and Louis asked me what was the matter with little sister, and in about five minutes I heard her crying again. I stayed in my room but someone had turned on the light in the front room and then someone turned out the light, then about five minutes later I heard sister scream again. Corporal Thornley got up, went to the kitchen, turned on the light, got himself a drink. When Corp. Thornley went into the kitchen to get a drink he had his breeches off. After getting a drink he put his breeches on, then he went in the dining room and sat there with his hand over his eyes as though he was thinking hard. Then I went to sleep. Later Mrs. Smith came in and woke me up and told me to stay up that she was taking the baby to the hospital and no matter how late it was to stay up until she got back. When she left Corp. Thornley was in the dining room, saying T didn’t do it.’ He stayed there until Mrs. Smith got back. When Mrs. Smith returned from the hospital she told Corp. Thornley how about the baby was hurt; she told him ‘if you had any guts, you would take a gun and blow your brains out.’ He told her, T didn’t do it.’ Then little sis[586]*586ter said, ‘Yes, you did, Thornley, you know that you are lying.’ Then Mrs. Smith told me to go and call the M. Ps. When the M. Ps. came there Thornley was gone. Mrs. Smith told us to go to bed. I went to bed, then she talked to the M. Ps. further than that I do not know anything.”

Several witnesses for appellant testified to the fact that prosecutrix had not identified appellant as her assailant on the night of the alleged assault. One of these witnesses testified that prosecutrix told him that her assailant was wearing leggings and that he was a thin man wearing a hat with a blue cord. It appears that appellant did not belong to the infantry, but was a member of the artillery, which uses a red hat cord. Some of appellant’s witnesses testified that prosecutrix’s mother had expressed doubt to them as to appellant’s guilt. Others testified that the mother had stated to them that she did not know who committed the offense. One of appellant’s witnesses testified that she lived next door to prosecutrix; that on an occasion some days prior to the assault she saw prosecutrix sitting in Russell Moore’s lap; that they were engaged in hugging and kissing. There was proof on the part of appellant to the effect that Russell Moore left the home of the prosecutrix two days after the alleged assault, and had not returned.

Appellant testified that he was in the home of prosecutrix on the night of the alleged assault and remained there until Mrs. Smith returned from the picture show; that he had on his uniform and was asleep on a cot in a back room when he was aroused by someone crying; that he immediately went to the front room where prosecutrix was in bed and asked her why she was crying; that she did not reply, and he told her to go to sleep; that when he turned on the light in the front room he saw Russell Moore standing in the doorway; that when he told Moore that prosecutrix was crying because her mother had not taken her to the picture show Moore went back into another room; that when Mrs.

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

Related

Ramirez v. State
264 S.W.2d 99 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1953)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 S.W.2d 601, 127 Tex. Crim. 583, 1935 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 41, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thornley-v-state-texcrimapp-1935.