Brown v. State

• Decision Date: 03 February 1954
• Docket Number: No. 26786.,26786.
• Citation: 267 S.W.2d 819
• Parties: BROWN v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

267 S.W.2d 819

BROWN v. STATE.

No. 26786.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

February 3, 1954.

Harvey Lindsay, Sessions & Sessions, by W. R. Sessions, Dallas, for appellant.

Henry Wade, Crim. Dist. Atty., George P. Blackburn, James K. Allen, Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, Wesley Dice, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

MORRISON, Judge.

The offense is murder; the punishment, death.

Lieutenant Morgan of the Dallas Fire Department testified that at 9:50 p. m. on December 31st he received a call to go to a certain block on Gunter Avenue; that when he arrived he found an automobile burning from within; that, while extinguishing the fire, he detected the odor of gasoline, determined that neither the engine or gas tank was burning; and that he found the partially burned body of a man on the floorboard in the back of the automobile. Morgan testified that a search of the body revealed no identification.

The body was removed to the hospital, where it was identified by his superiors as that of E. J. Campbell, a collector for the Pacific Finance Company.

An autopsy was there performed; a sample of blood was taken from the body, and it was ascertained that death had been caused by the firing of three 25-caliber bullets into the head and that death had occurred prior to the time the body had come in contact with the fire.

A detailing of the evidence adduced in the following approximately 200 pages of the statement of facts will not be deemed necessary, because this testimony was introduced to establish that the deceased had gone to the home of appellant on the afternoon of December 31st to collect three months overdue installment payments on appellant's automobile and the appellant testifying in his own behalf admitted such fact.

Appellant was the last person shown to have seen the deceased alive at 5:00 p. m. on the day of the homicide. The appellant said the deceased left him at that time.

It is admitted by appellant that on the following morning he moved out of the apartment where he had been living in Dallas, left no forwarding address, went to Fort Worth, and rented an apartment under an assumed name; and there remained without communicating with his mother or the parents of his wife, all of whom resided in Dallas, until he was arrested on January 14. Appellant gives as his explanation of this extraordinary conduct that he was attempting to evade the Pacific Finance Company. Appellant further admits that prior to his departure from the apartment in Dallas he placed a pair of his trousers in the attic and that they had blood on them. He says that this blood was his and gives an explanation as to how it got there, but gives no explanation which appears satisfactory to us as to why he left them behind. Appellant admitted the purchase of a 25-caliber pistol the preceding July, but stated that it had been stolen from him prior to the homicide.

Other than these facts, the State established the following tending to show the appellant's guilt:

1. That the appellant, wearing trousers similar to those found in the attic, made application for a loan to a certain loan company in Dallas on the afternoon of the homicide.

2. That the blood taken from the body of the deceased was type "O", and the blood on the trousers was type "O".

3. Several days after the homicide police officers found a deposit of blood in front of the garage of the Dallas apartment which had been occupied by appellant, which when tested was found to be human blood type "O". They found on the rafters of this garage a brief case of the same type issued to its collectors by the Pacific Finance Company. Under the floor of this garage they found duplicate ledger sheets which had been turned over to deceased by his superiors during the month preceding and up to as late as 1:00 p. m. on the day of the homicide. The ledger sheet evidencing appellant's account with said company, shown to have been in the possession of deceased on the day of the homicide, was not found.

4. That a charga-plate was issued to Mr. E. J. Campbell the preceding October and that deceased was shown to have resided at 2240 Lawndale in October.

Several days after the homicide police officers found in the bathroom which had been used by appellant a leather chargaplate cover, on the inside of which when examined under a special light the following imprint was shown to be discernible:

"Mr E J Cam bell 22 O Law da Dr Dallas Texas"

Also found at the same place was a key case shown to be of the same type as one given to deceased by his father at Ranger, Texas, a few days before the homicide. In the same bathroom was found a receipt shown to have been in the possession of deceased on the day of the homicide.

5. That a few days prior to the homicide the deceased had been given a complimentary billfold distributed by Oak Cliff Bank and Trust Company. Shortly after appellant's arrest in Fort Worth such a billfold was found within 40 feet of the apartment in which appellant had been residing under the name of Herbert Gross.

6. That the fire occurred a block and one-half from the appellant's Dallas apartment, and the burned automobile was later turned over to the Pacific Finance Company.

This, we think, fairly summarizes the evidence collected by the very efficient Dallas police...