Gassett v. State, 56825
| Decision Date | 04 April 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 56825,No. 1,56825,1 |
| Citation | 587 S.W.2d 695 |
| Parties | William Parma GASSETT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Larry S. Parnass, George T. Bond and Carl R. Golden, Irving, for appellant.
Henry M. Wade, Dist. Atty., Steve Wilensky and Hugh Lucas, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, Robert Huttash, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
Before ONION, P. J., PHILLIPS and TOM G. DAVIS, JJ., and KEITH, Commissioner.
KEITH, Commissioner.
The jury convicted appellant of murder with malice and set his punishment at confinement for twenty-two years.
Under the undisputed record, appellant shot Dr. Bob Sollock once in the chest with a pistol and the wound caused death almost instantaneously. Appellant was married to the former wife of the deceased and there had been many court hearings involving the custody of a child born of the marriage of the deceased and appellant's wife.
The last custody hearing resulted in a modification of the decree whereby the deceased regained custody of the child and appellant's wife was directed to deliver such child to deceased at a particular time and place. Instead of complying with the order, appellant, his wife, and the child left the state on the same day the order was pronounced from the bench. The avowed purpose was to prevent the deceased from having his child with him in accordance with the new order. Appellant's wife and her child remained outside the state at all times up to and including the date of the homicide. Appellant, however, returned to Dallas about a week before the homicide. In the meanwhile, Dr. Sollock had been endeavoring to locate appellant, his former wife, or the child and frequently had driven around the neighborhood where appellant resided.
On the night of the homicide, July 11, 1973, the deceased and his wife drove by the home of his former wife's parents but saw no lights and they continued driving toward appellant's home when appellant in a pickup truck began following their car. After several blocks, appellant "curbed" the deceased's car and, with a pistol in his hand, came up to the car where deceased and his wife were still seated.
According to deceased's wife, as appellant came up to their car, he stated: "All right, you sorry son-of-a-bitch, I'm tired of you driving by this neighborhood," to which deceased replied that it was a public street. Thereupon, appellant challenged him to get out of the car.
Deceased did so but not before he reached under the seat and got his own .357 two-shot derringer pistol. Deceased had the pistol in his right hand as he got out of the car his wife saying that it was behind his back, appellant saying that it was in the open and plainly visible. As deceased was in the process of moving his hand forward, appellant fired the single shot which killed Sollock.
Additionally, appellant testified: (1) he was afraid for his life; (2) this fear arose because of the child custody case and he was fearful that deceased would do him bodily harm; (3) he had formed this fear after having seen pictures of his wife disclosing injury done to her by deceased; (4)...
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