Hulen v. State, 25776
| Decision Date | 16 April 1952 |
| Docket Number | No. 25776,25776 |
| Parties | HULEN v. STATE. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
E. Byron Singleton, Amarillo, for appellant.
H. C. Pipkin, Jr., Dist. Atty., Amarillo, George P. Blackburn, State's Atty., of Austin, for the State.
Appellant was convicted for the murder of his wife, Mabel Rachel Hulen. The jury fixed the penalty at death.
While the statement of facts brought forward in the record is lengthy, the pertinent evidence found in this record is quite brief. Appellant did not take the stand to testify in his own behalf. We find in the record a confession, in due form of law signed by him, admitting the killing and stating to some extent the details thereof. There is no denial that this was signed by him but the contention is that it was secured by undue pressure which resulted in breaking down his resistance and thereby the confession was obtained unlawfully.
The state examined several witnesses for the purpose of showing the circumstances under which the confession was signed and says that no undue influence was exercised and that the confession was voluntarily made by the appellant. The defense cross- examined these same witnesses and, without developing anything materially different from that which resulted from the state's examination of them, contends, nevertheless, that he was so worn by the long examination and because of the fact that he was taken from his home several hundred miles to Austin, to the Department of Public Safety, and thence to Plainview, Texas, and back to Amarillo, that his resistance was worn down; that the confession was not admissible in evidence against him. In the absence of this confession, admittedly, there is but slight evidence to cast any suspicion that the appellant was the murderer of Mabel Rachel Hulen on the night of April 25, 1951, as charged.
Summarizing the evidence given and the circumstances surrounding appellant from the time the body of his wife was discovered, we have reached the conclusion that the jury's finding that there was not sufficient influence exercised on appellant to produce the confession against his deliberate will should be sustained.
Soon after the body of the deceased was found in her room by her daughter appellant was notified. He and his wife had separated. She had filed suit for divorce. He had deeded her the home and that was the scene of the homicide. That she was murdered by someone is without question. Appellant came to the home, with another, but was not permitted to enter the room. The officers began questioning him that same night and he was kept up all during the night but was released the next day and permitted to go home. He was not under arrest during the next night and went at will. By agreement, he left with two officers for Austin the next day for the purpose of submitting himself to the lie detector operated in the Department of Public Safety. This was Friday. He slept in the barracks at Camp Mabry that night with the officers and others who happened to be there. A close examination of all the evidence fails to reveal any indication of the infliction of any punishment, any threats or any promises. The only issue is whether or not the long siege of questions resulted in breaking his will as contended by appellant. This was properly submitted to the jury and they found to the contrary.
M. D. Rogers and Woody Riner accompanied appellant to Austin and both testified denying any conduct that would be calculated to break him down, as is contended in the argument and brief filed in his behalf. Their evidence is without dispute by anyone. It shows that on Saturday, the 28th, a complaint had been filed in Potter County charging appellant with murder and he was then examined by the Chief of the Bureau of Identification, Mr. Glen McLaughlin, in the Department of Public Safety, whose testimony on the subject is chiefly relied upon to support appellant's contention. For that reason it will be noted more in detail. At the end of the day appellant was placed in jail at Georgetown, a short distance from Austin, and he remained there over Sunday and until Monday morning.
McLaughlin testified that he examined the accused on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (the 28th, 29th and 30th of April, 1951.) His examination on Saturday was: '* * * off and on during a period of about five or six hours; on the 29th, again off and on during a period of about four hours; and on the 30th, during a period of about an hour or an hour and a half or maybe two hours * * *.' He testified that he was able to determine when a witness was getting tired; that he could discover it frequently before the witness himself could and that he did not in any case, and specifically in this case, examine the witness when he became...
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