Williams v. State

298 S.W.2d 590, 164 Tex. Crim. 347, 1956 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 951
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided November 21, 1956·No. 28544·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinions

MORRISON, Presiding Judge.

The offense is rape; the punishment, death.

This is the second trial for the instant offense. The reversal of the prior case was predicated upon the court’s failure to change the venue and is reported in 162 Texas Cr. Rep. 202, 283 S.W. 2d 239. This trial was held in Wharton County on a change of venue from Matagorda County with no protest from the appellant.

[349]*349Mrs. Bruegen testified that the prosecutrix, her 14-year-old cousin, was spending the night in her home on the date charged in the indictment; she awoke at approximately 1:20 A.M. to give her baby its bottle, and as she entered the kitchen she saw a brown and white checked coat lying on the floor and observed that the back door was open. She stated that she then heard a moan coming from the room in which the prosecutrix was sleeping; when she turned on the light she saw a man on top of prosecutrix, and screamed; that the appellant, who had a handkerchief over part of his face, lay there and looked at her for a while and then got up and left the house. She stated that after he left the coat was missing and the back door was closed. She immediately called the police and discovered that the prosecutrix was unconscious and a khaki cap was lying on the floor near the couch on which she had been sleeping. She gave the officers a description of the appellant, delivered the cap to them, and identified the appellant, after a mask similar to the one he had worn was placed over his face, when he was brought to the hospital by the officers a short while thereafter.

The prosecutrix remembered nothing save that she had been choked into insensibility and spent ten days in the hospital.

The officers testified that they found the prosecutrix unconscious and lying in a pool of blood which emanated from the region of her sexual parts, that after receiving a description of the appellant and his cap they went in search of two men who fit the description, one of whom was the appellant.

Sheriff Cole stated that he and another officer went to the appellant’s parents’ home and were met at the door by his mother, that he asked if the appellant was there, that his mother asked what he had done, that he replied he wanted to talk to him, and that she told them to “come on in.”

The sheriff stated that the appellant was in bed dressed in his shorts which had blood all down the front of them, that he told the appellant to dress and come with him, that the appellant put on clothes that were lying near the bed, and as they prepared to leave picked up a jacket and brought it with him. This jacket and the cap were introduced in evidence and were identified by Mrs. Bruegen at the trial as being similar to those she had seen on the night in question.

Sheriff Cole stated that he carried the appellant to his office in the jail and a few minutes thereafter carried the appel[350]*350lant before a magistrate, swore out a complaint, and secured a warrant for his arrest. Justice of the Peace Ward corroborated the sheriff’s testimony in this respect.

The sheriff, Chief of Police McWhorter, Judge Ward, Mr. Peden, the county attorney, and another officer questioned the appellant there in the jail. None of the witnesses is definite as to the time the confession was signed. Taking their testimony all together, including that of the appellant, it must have been signed within three hours after their arrival at the jail. The confession itself is unequivocal and admits penetration.

We digress here a moment to develop the testimony of Dr. Barbour, who stated that he was summoned to the hospital during the early morning hours and there examined the prosecutrix, whom he found to be unconscious as the result of having been choked. He stated he found blood all over her buttocks and vulva, a severe laceration of the hymen, and a long laceration, together with male sperm, in the posterior portion of the vagina, which caused him to believe that she had been ravished. He stated that he saw the appellant twice that night, that he observed what appeared to be blood stains on his pants, and that he later gave him a complete examination at the hospital and found no bruises or marks upon his body and observed no indication of intoxication.

We return to the confession and the disposition of the appellant following the making of the same.

Justice of the Peace Ward testified that he and the sheriff talked to the appellant for a while and, after having been warned, he confessed to them orally; that he called for Chief McWhorter who was a better typist and that the chief again warned the appellant; that he asked the appellant if he wanted a lawyer and he said “no” and the confession was then reduced to writing in the presence of the others named earlier, read to the appellant, signed and witnessed.

After the confession had been executed and before sunrise, the appellant was carried to the Wharton County jail in the adjoining county. The sheriff explains this move by saying that he did not know what the reaction of the people might be and he sent him to Wharton County for safekeeping. The sheriff denied the authenticity of the newspaper stories, which was one of the grounds for the reversal of this prior conviction, in which it was reported that a crowd had gathered at the jail, one of [351]*351.whom was bearing arms, and denied that he had said at that time, “It looked bad for a while.” In the prior opinion, we were interested only in whether or not the jurors became disqualified to serve by having read the newsstory. In the case at bar, we are concerned whether or not the incident occurred and, if so, whether it had any effect upon the appellant who confessed.

We now come to the appellant’s defense. His mother testified that the appellant was at home in bed at the time the rape occurred ; she stated that the sheriff presented himself at her door and asked for the appellant and then entered and woke him up, and that as they were leaving one of the officers took the appellant’s coat with him.

The appellant testified and described three incidents which caused him to confess. It is impossible to tell from his testimony the sequence of these events. He states that he was carried out in the country about six miles, that during the trip the handcuffs were tightened around his wrists, that he was required to stand in front of an automobile’s lights while his picture was taken, and that he was then returned to jail where his wrists were bathed in cold water until the swelling was reduced. He states that while at the jail one of the officers hit him twice with his fists and cursed him. He states that a crowd had gathered around the jail, that some man came in the jail armed with a shotgun and the officers told the man that the appellant was not there and instructed him to leave, and that at one stage of the questioning the sheriff had told him that he would “let the people get me” and at another time someone told him that they were going to put him out on the courthouse lawn. He stated finally, “* * * I figured out and thought up a funny statement, I said, ‘Maybe if I think of it and give it to them, maybe they won’t bother me,’ and I said, ‘Go ahead and get your typewriter, I will tell you all about it.’ ”

Appellant testified that he did not know how the blood had gotten on his shorts and clothes.

Several witnesses for the appellant testified that he had left a place where they had been gambling at one o’clock A.M. on his way home.

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

Williams v. State, 298 S.W.2d 590, 164 Tex. Crim. 347, 1956 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 951 (Tex. 1956).

298 S.W.2d 590 (Williams v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Gipson v. State
819 S.W.2d 890 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Dunn v. State
721 S.W.2d 325 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Penry v. State
691 S.W.2d 636 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Fernandez v. Beto
281 F. Supp. 207 (N.D. Texas, 1968)
Fisher v. State
379 S.W.2d 900 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1964)
Martinez v. State
333 S.W.2d 370 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1960)
Bills v. State
327 S.W.2d 751 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1959)
Coronado v. State
319 S.W.2d 104 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1958)
Williams v. State
298 S.W.2d 590 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1956)