Werner v. State

680 S.W.2d 858, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6381
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 4, 1984
Docket01-83-0069-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 680 S.W.2d 858 (Werner v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Werner v. State, 680 S.W.2d 858, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6381 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinions

OPINION

DOYLE, Justice.

This is an appeal from a conviction of murder. Punishment was assessed by a jury at ten years.

The record reflects that appellant shot and killed Tarbell Griffin Travis, after Travis allegedly damaged an automobile owned by appellant’s friend, Kenneth Net-terville.

While visiting at Netterville’s residence, appellant saw a car driven by the deceased collide head-on with Netterville’s parked vehicle. The deceased immediately backed off all the way to the intersection and sped away. Appellant and Netterville decided to give chase, and hold “whoever hit the car for the police.” According to appellant’s testimony, the following events next happened. Upon overtaking the deceased’s vehicle, appellant, carrying a pistol and a flashlight, approached the deceased and allegedly told him to “get up against the car.” When the deceased allegedly made a movement with his shoulders and stepped toward appellant, appellant shot the deceased in the chest from a distance of approximately eight feet. Appellant was charged by indictment with the offense of murder.

In the first of four grounds of error, the appellant contends that the trial court erroneously charged the jury on the use of deadly force to make an arrest.

The trial court included the following instruction in its charge to the jury.

A person other than a peace officer acting in a peace officer’s presence and at his direction is justified in using deadly force against another when and to the degree the person reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary to make a lawful arrest, if the use of force would have been justified, and the defendant reasonably believes the offense against the public peace for which arrest is authorized included the use or attempted use of deadly force; or the defendant reasonably believes there is a substantial risk that the person to be arrested will cause death or serious bodily injury to another if the arrest is delayed.

The appellant argues that this instruction confused the jury, because there was no evidence that appellant used deadly force in his attempt to make the arrest or that he acted in the presence and at the direction of a police officer. The appellant also argues that the instruction was a comment on the weight of the evidence, because appellant did not claim that he used deadly force in order to make the arrest, merely that he threatened the victim with deadly force in order to effect an arrest.

When determining reversible error, the reviewing court normally looks to the part of the court’s charge that applies the law to the facts. Thomas v. State, 587 S.W.2d 707 (Tex.Crim.App.1979). Where a broad definition or abstract definition is used in the definitional portion of the charge, the court seldom finds reversible error or error which is calculated to injure the rights of appellant, or render the trial unfair. See Jones v. State, 576 S.W.2d 393 (Tex.Crim.App.1979); Pulgarin v. State, 635 S.W.2d 195 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1982, no writ).

In contrast, if the charge authorizes the jury to convict upon a set of circumstances that could not constitute the offense charged, or are not supported by the evidence, the reviewing court will find reversible error. Dowden v. State, 537 S.W.2d 5, (Tex.Crim.App.1976); Venzor v. State, 283 S.W.2d 397 (Tex.Crim.App.1955); but cf. Toler v. State, 546 S.W.2d 290 (Tex.Crim.App.1977).

In the instant case, the application paragraph of the charge authorized the jury to convict only if they believed appellant was guilty of murder.

Therefore, if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant, Peter Alan Werner, on or about April 2, 1982, in Harris County, [861]*861Texas, intentionally or knowingly caused the death of Tarbell Griffin Travis by shooting him with a firearm, you will find the Defendant guilty of Murder. If you do not so believe, or have a reasonable doubt thereof, you will find the Defendant not guilty, (emphasis added)

The court’s charge also instructed the jury on the issue of self-defense, and authorized the jury to find either for or against appellant on this issue:

If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that at the time and place in question the Defendant did not reasonably believe that he was in danger of death or serious bodily injury, or that a reasonable person in the Defendant’s situation at the time and place in question would have retreated before using deadly force against Tarbell Griffin Travis, or that the Defendant, under the circumstances, did not reasonably believe that the degree of force actually used by him was immediately necessary to protect himself against Tarbell Griffin Travis’s use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force, if any, as viewed from the Defendant’s standpoint at the time, then you must find against the Defendant on the issue of self-defense.
Now if you find or have a reasonable doubt thereof that Tarbell Griffin Travis committed a breach of the peace as those terms have been defined herein, in the presence or in the view of Peter Alan Werner; and if you further find or have a reasonable doubt thereof that Peter Alan Werner reasonably belived [sic] his purpose and the reasons for his arrest of Tarbell Griffin Travis were already known to him, or the purpose could not reasonably be made known to him; and if you further find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant, Peter Alan Werner, did kill the said Tarbell Griffin Travis by shooting him with a gun as alleged, but you further find from the evidence or have a reasonable doubt thereof that, viewed from the standpoint of the Defendant at the time, from the words, conduct, or both, of Tarbell Griffin Travis, it reasonably appeared to him that the Defendant’s life or person was in danger and there was created in his mind a reasonable expectation or fear of death or serious bodily injury, or he reasonably believed he was under attack or attempted attack from the use of unlawful deadly force at the hands of Tarbell Griffin Travis, and that acting under such apprehension and reasonable belief that the use of deadly force on his part was immediately necessary to protect himself against Tarbell Griffin Travis’s actual or apparent use of unlawful deadly force, .he shot the said Tarbell Griffin Travis, and that a reasonable person in the Defendant’s situation would not have retreated, then you should acquit the Defendant on the grounds of self-defense; or if you have a reasonable doubt as to whether or not the Defendant was acting in self-defense on said occasion and under the circumstances, then you should give the Defendant the benefit of that doubt and say by your verdict not guilty. (emphasis added)

The record indicates that the part of the court’s charge that applies the law to the facts was properly restricted to cover the offense charged, and the defensive issues raised at trial.

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885 S.W.2d 581 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
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721 S.W.2d 408 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Werner v. State
711 S.W.2d 639 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
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Werner v. State
680 S.W.2d 858 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
680 S.W.2d 858, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 6381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/werner-v-state-texapp-1984.