Gerzin v. State
| Citation | 447 S.W.2d 925 |
| Decision Date | 10 December 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 42383,42383 |
| Parties | Richard GERZIN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of Texas. Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas |
Jeffrey H. Hubbard, Houston, for appellant.
Carol S. Vance, Dist. Atty., Phyllis Bell and Frank Puckett, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, and Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The conviction is for assault with intent to rob; the punishment, ten years.
The record reflects that Nathan Smith attempted to rob a liquor store operated by M. A. Mouritsen and his wife while Richard Gerzin, the appellant, was waiting in a nearby station wagon. A few minutes before the assault Richard Gerzin went into the store, purchased a half pint of whiskey and left. Approximately fifteen minutes later Mouritsen, while walking his dog, saw appellant in a station wagon with Nathan Smith. Mouritsen stayed at a corner approximately a hundred feet from the liquor store for about ten minutes and observed the two men drinking whiskey. Smith got out of the station wagon, passed by and told Mouritsen that he had a nice dog. Mouritsen then returned to the store, saw Smith walk by and look, return and look in the store again. Mouritsen decided that they were going to be robbed, went to the back of the store, got a shotgun and stood behind a curtain.
Within approximately three minutes Smith entered the store and asked for a half pint of whiskey. As Mrs. Mouritsen turned to get it, he pulled a sawed-off shotgun from underneath his overcoat and said, 'I guess you know what this means,' and she replied, 'Yes' and opened the cash register. Smith became aware that Mouritsen was behind the curtain and told him to come out or he would shoot. Mouritsen replied that he had a gun and told Smith to drop his gun. When Smith refused to do so Mouritsen shot and killed him and then ran to the street corner. The station wagon had been turned in the opposite direction. Mouritsen ordered Gerzin to get out, but instead he backed the station wagon into a parking lot, turned on its bright lights, blinding Mouritsen momentarily and drove away. Mouritsen fired at the station wagon as it left.
Within approximately an hour after the robbery, the station wagon fitting the description given by Mouritsen with bullet holes in the rear was found parked and locked. An officer concealed himself and waited. Within eight minutes appellant came, unlocked and entered the station wagon and started the engine. Officers drove up, arrested Gerzin and found a 303 caliber rifle in the station wagon.
At the penalty stage of the trial, after hearing evidence that Gerzin had been convicted for robbery in California, the jury assessed his punishment.
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Thompson v. State
...that the defendant participated in the commission of the offense by driving the get-away vehicle. See, for example, Gerzin v. State, 447 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Greer v. State, 168 Tex.Cr.R. 485, 329 S.W.2d 885 (1959); Davila v. State, 388 S.W.2d 944 (Tex.Cr.App.1965). Also see the ca......
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Stewart v. State, 01-81-0668-CR
...appellant under the law of parties as defined in Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 7.01 (Vernon 1974) and § 7.02 (Vernon 1974); Gerzin v. State, 447 S.W.2d 925, 926 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Wilder v. State, 583 S.W.2d 349 (Tex.Cr.App.1979), vacated, 453 U.S. 902, 101 S.Ct. 3133, 69 L.Ed.2d 987 (1981, affm'd ......
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Hill v. State
...Ann.C.C.P. The court charged on the law of principals and we find the evidence sufficient to sustain the jury's verdict. Gerzin v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 447 S.W.2d 925; Jones v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 436 S.W.2d 151; McLaughlin v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 426 S.W.2d Appellant's first and second groun......
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Urtado v. State
...to be sufficient in many cases when the proof showed that the accused was the driver of a getaway car. For example, see Gerzin v. State, 447 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Cr.App.1969), cert. denied 398 U.S. 912, 90 S.Ct. 1710, 26 L.Ed.2d 73, and Davila v. State, 388 S.W.2d 944 In the present case, the pr......