Fretwell v. State, 42031
| Decision Date | 07 May 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 42031,42031 |
| Citation | 442 S.W.2d 393 |
| Parties | Issaac FRETWELL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
M. Gabriel Nahas, Jr., Raeburn Norris, Houston, for appellant.
Carol S. Vance, Dist. Atty., James C. Brough and Robert C. Floyd, Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, and Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The conviction is for sodomy; the punishment, ten years.
The record reflects that appellant offered his fourteen-year-old stepdaughter a choice to commit sodomy or have sexual intercourse with him. She refused to choose, and he forced her to commit an act of sodomy. The prosecutrix testified that on one occasion he choked her with his belt until she stopped resisting his attempt to have sexual intercourse with her; that he forced her to have intercourse with him on five or six occasions; and, that he also forced her to commit acts of sodomy on six or seven other occasions.
In his first ground of error, he contends the trial court erred in permitting the witness Joanne Palladini, a next-door neighbor, to testify about statements made to her by the prosecutrix. According to the prosecutrix, the statement was made on a Sunday about ten minutes after the act of sodomy was committed. Mrs. Palladini and another witness testified that the prosecutrix had a black or bruised eye, a knot or lump on her forehead, was crying and was emotionally upset when she made the statements. She told the women about the sex act that day and about the beating he had given her the day before. It is contended by appellant in his brief that the statement about the beating which occurred on Saturday could not have been res gestae.
The trial court had sufficient evidence to conclude that the entire statement or outcry of the prosecutrix was a spontaneous declaration and was admissible as an exception to the hearsay rule. Statements made by a child shortly after a sex offense are admissible as part of the res gestae. Hudgeons v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 384 S.W.2d 720. The entire statement was admissible even though it referred to the beating the day before.
Complaint is made in the second ground of error that the court permitted Mr. Floyd, the assistant district attorney, to inquire repeatedly of appellant's wife on cross-examination about the custody of her other children.
Objections were sustained to several questions. Appellant's counsel had asked the State's witness Jake Adams, the former husband of Mrs. Fretwell, if the children were living with her, and he answered, On redirect, Mr. Floyd (Assistant District Attorney) asked:
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David v. State
...to which an objection has been previously sustained, is asked again and answered without objection, no error is shown. Fretwell v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 442 S.W.2d 393. Further, the question and answer were entirely proper as they related to statements made by the appellant during the course ......
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Montoya v. State, 04-81-00010-CR
...very time complained of evidence is offered and secure an instruction to disregard thereon in order to preserve error. Fretwell v. State, 442 S.W.2d 393 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Meza v. State, 172 Tex.Crim.R. 544, 360 S.W.2d 403 (1962); Christesson v. State, 172 Tex.Crim.R. 27, 353 S.W.2d 218 (19......
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Hawkins v. State, 47365
...According to her testimony, it was not the first time she told her father. Bennett v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 382 S.W.2d 930; Fretwell v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 442 S.W.2d 393; Dickerson v. State, 155 Tex.Cr.R. 600, 237 S.W.2d 983. Cf. Haley v. State, 157 Tex.Cr.R. 150, 247 S.W.2d Appellant's coun......
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Arvay v. State
...its discretion in permitting Holbein, Jr.'s out of court statement to be admitted into evidence as res gestae. See Fretwell v. State, 442 S.W.2d 393, 394 (Tex.Cr.App.1969) (statements made by a child after a sex offense are admissible as res gestae); Hudgeons v. State, 384 S.W.2d 720, 721 A......