Bell v. State
| Decision Date | 15 December 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 38664,38664 |
| Citation | 398 S.W.2d 133 |
| Parties | Timer BELL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Larry Emerson, Houston, Marvin O. Teague (on appeal only), Houston, for appellant.
Frank Briscoe, Dist. Atty., Carl E. F. Dally and Neil McKay, Asst. Dist, Attys., Houston, and Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
DICE, Commissioner.
The offense is murder; the punishment, ten years.
The evidence was undisputed that appellant killed the deceased, Dillon Roberson, by shooting him with a gun.
Appellant was the manager of a group of apartments in the city of Houston. The deceased, Dillon Roberson, his brother Quille Roberson, and Quille's wife lived in one of the apartments. It was shown by the state's testimony that, on the day of the homicide, Quille, the brother, went to the appellant's apartment around 10 a. m. and paid him $40 in rent. Later in the day a dispute arose between the parties, and appellant told Quille he could move and he would refund the rent money. The deceased and Quille then went to appellant's apartment around 3 p. m., and appellant refunded the $40 to Quille. The latter returned the rent receipt to appellant. As Quille was leaving, appellant grabbed him and attempted to take the money. In this he did not succeed and Quille returned to his apartment and started loading his possessions in his automobile, to leave. While in the process of loading and passing by the door to appellant's apartment, he was shot. He then ran behind some cars and appellant was seen to come out of the door of his apartment with a rifle in his hand and point the same in Quille's direction, but he did not fire.
Dillon Roberson, the deceased, was then found lying outside appellant's apartment near the door, with a gunshot wound in the left side.
When the officers arrived upon the scene, they went to appellant's apartment and were admitted inside by appellant's wife. Appellant was in the apartment, and, in conversation with the officers, said that he was the one who had done the shooting. As a result of information given by appellant the officers recovered a .303 British Enfield rifle in a bedroom which appellant had used in the shooting. When recovered, the rifle had five live rounds in the clip and one jammed shell in the barrel. A spent cartridge was found in the hallway of the apartment, together with blood stains on the floor. There was also a bullet hole about waist-high in the front door of appellant's apartment.
It was shown by the testimony of Dr. Robert Bucklin, associate medical examiner for Harris County, that the deceased died at 11:15 p.m., on the day of the homicide and that the cause of death was a gunshot wound through the abdominal cavity. Dr. Bucklin, testifying from the autopsy report, stated that on the deceased's body there was a partially sutured gunshot entrance wound on the left side close to the rib and an exit wound on the same level in the back two inches to the left of the midline. The doctor stated, however, that it was difficult to determine the entrance and exit wounds on the body because of suturing around an old surgical wound, and that an examination of the deceased's clothing would be of assistance in making that determination.
Testifying as a witness in his own behalf, appellant related in detail his version of the misunderstanding between the parties over payment of the rent and testified that between 3 and 4 p. m. on the day in question the deceased and his brother, Quille, entered his apartment in a rough and abusive manner. Quille demanded a return of the rent money. Appellant told his wife to go get the money, which she did. When she returned to the room with the money, Quille knocked her down, grabbed the money, and called her a bitch. Appellant was sitting in a chair and attempted to get up. Quille hit him in the right eye, knocking him to the floor. While on the floor, appellant grabbed the rifle and, when he saw the deceased advancing upon him, fired the rifle one time. The deceased fell to the floor and in about five minutes got up and went outside. Appellant swore that he fired the rifle to keep the deceased from...
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Bell v. State
...first ground of error--that the evidence is insufficient to sustain a finding of malice, is accordingly overruled. See Bell v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 398 S.W.2d 133. Her second ground of error relates to the court's overruling of appellant's motion for discovery. The trial court conducted a he......
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Aguilar v. State
...813; Stewart v. State 168 Tex.Cr.R. 166, 324 S.W.2d 228, cert. denied 363 U.S. 815, 80 S.Ct. 1253, 4 L.Ed.2d 1155. See also Bell v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 398 S.W.2d 133; Beasley v. State, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 115, 346 S.W.2d Motive is not essential in order for malice to exist. Holland v. State, Tex......
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Ratcliffe v. State, 43518
...she would kill him when he shot her. Shooting the deceased at close range with a rifle authorized a finding of malice. Bell v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 398 S.W.2d 133; Beasley v. State, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 115, 346 S.W.2d 123. A rifle is a 'deadly weapon' per se, Davis v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 440 S.W.2......
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Newman v. State, 46731
...Tex.Cr.App., 470 S.W.2d 693; Ratcliffe v. State, Tex.Cr.App. 464 S.W.2d 664; Grant v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 449 S.W.2d 480; Bell v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 398 S.W.2d 133. The jury was the sole judge of the facts and the credibility of the witnesses on the issue of whether, under the law as given......