Jobe v. State, 43321

• Decision Date: 13 January 1971
• Docket Number: No. 43321,43321
• Citation: 464 S.W.2d 137
• Parties: Willie Lee JOBE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 137

464 S.W.2d 137

Willie Lee JOBE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 43321.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

Jan. 13, 1971.

Rehearing Denied March 10, 1971.

W. John Allison, Jr., Dallas (on appeal only), for appellant.

Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., Harry J. Schulz, Jr., W. T. Westmoreland, Jr., Edgar Mason and John B. Tolle, Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, and Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

OPINION

ROBERTS, Judge.

The conviction is for murder; the punishment, life.

The appellant contends that the trial court erred in holding that his oral confession was voluntarily made and that the fruits thereof were admissible in evidence as a matter of law.

Detective Preston Parks of the Dallas Police Department testified that on November 5, 1967 in connection with the murder case involving the death of Joe C. Williams he went to the intersection of Bondstone and Waterview Streets in Dallas, Texas across the street from a house owned by the Leslie Hart family. Then he and his partner, Detective George Thomason went to Denver, Colorado, where aided by the Denver police, they attempted to locate the Harts. The Harts were located in the town of Castle Rock, about 25 miles from Denver, and after a conversation with the Harts, the officers went back to Denver looking for a Willard Lee Jobe, who prior to talking with the Harts, Parks did not know of at all.

The officers, accompanied by the Harts, went directly to the Ramada Inn Motel in Denver where the officers determined that the appellant was not in his room. From a bellboy the officers obtained information about a restaurant at Syracuse and Colfax Streets in Denver.

Parks testified further that he approached the person who he identified as the appellant on a parking lot at Syracuse and Colfax Streets. The appellant was talking to two Denver detectives. Parks asked the appellant if he was Bill Jobe, and the appellant answered, 'No, my name is Willard Jobe.' Parks then said, 'My name is Preston Parks and I'm a detective from the Dallas Police Department and I want to talk to you about the murder of Joe C. Williams.' The appellant then told Parks that he did not know anything about Joe C. Williams. At that time the following conversation occurred:

'I (Parks) said that 'I have reason to believe that that thirty-two automatic of Barbara Hart might have been used to kill him' and he said, 'I'll tell you all about it,' and said, 'She didn't have anything to do with it,' and said, 'I'll tell you exactly what happened and I'll take you out there to the motel and get the gun.' And I said, 'We'll have to get that gun,' and he said, 'No, I'll take you out there.' And I said, 'No, we can't do that because you have certain rights."

Parks then gave the appellant the 'Miranda' warnings, ¹ and the appellant said, 'You don't need a search warrant; I'll take you out there and show you where the gun is.' Parks, the appellant, and the Denver officers then went to the parking lot of the appellant's motel where the appellant, after first reading it, signed a 'waiver of a search warrant.' At that time the officers, accompanied by the appellant, entered the motel room and the following transpired:

'Well, he opened the door and he went in a little bit ahead of us there and George Thomason, my partner, and I were a little bit behind him and he went to the dresser and said, 'It's in here.' And he reached for the dresser drawer to open it and my partner said, 'Hold on. Stand back and let my partner get it.' And he said, 'Well, it's in that drawer there.' And so he stepped back then and I opened the drawer and reached in and pulled out this thirty-two Biretta and there was a piece of clothing lying there and I could see that there was something else under it and I went to reach in there again and he said, 'Be careful, there's a forty-five there and it's loaded and there's one in the chamber,' and I took this cloth out and unrolled it and there was a key, a motel key, in there for room 212 from a motel here in Dallas and there was an envelope and it was sealed and on the outside was a name, Willard Jobe and Barbara Hart, written on it.'

The appellant then told Parks that the Biretta pistol was Mrs. Hart's gun and that it was the gun he used to shoot Joe Williams along with other information that led to the recovery of the money the appellant took off Williams, the clothing worn by the appellant when he shot Williams, and the informaion that he had dumped Williams' briefcase in Lake Texoma.

Parks further testified that the appellant's statements were voluntary and were in no way induced by him, and that the appellant was not under arrest until he began making his statements to the officers and had said that he had committed a crime.

The testimony of Detective John E. Meritzky of the Denver, Colorado Police Department reflects that on November 5, 1967 he met officers Parks and Thomason of the Dallas Police Department at the parking lot of the Ramada Inn Motel in Denver, Colorado. After which they all went to the desk and asked if a Bill Jobe was registered there; they were informed there was a Jobe registered there, and they went and opened the room with a key. The officers then searched the room only to the extent of determining if Jobe was there. After leaving the room, the officers proceeded to where they had information that the appellant might be. Meritzky and Detective Hurlburt drove in one car and McCormick, Parks, and Thomason followed. At a parking lot they pulled up to the appellant sitting in an automobile. Hurlburt got out with his gun in his hand, and Meritzky had his badge in his hand as they opened the car door and frisked the appellant. Parks and Thomason arrived 'a minute and a few seconds' later as the appellant was being frisked and Meritzky was searching the glove compartment. Prior to the arrival of Parks and Thomason the only conversation they had with the appellant was the asking of his name.

Meritzky testified further:

'A I heard Parks ask him if he was Bill Jobe and he said he was Willard Jobe and I was standing just adjacent to him and Parks showed his identification and badge and said he wanted to talk with him about a murder of a Mr. Williams and he said he didn't know anything about it and Parks said he had reason to believe that he did know something about it and he inquired about a gun that was used that was owned by a Mrs. Hart and the lad told him, 'I have the gun and I'll take you to it."

The appellant did not testify in his own behalf.

Testifying on behalf of the appellant, Ron Wilson, bellboy at the Denver Ramada Inn Motel, stated that when the officers first entered the appellant's motel room and determined that the appellant was not there he saw officers look into the drawers and discover two pistols, a .32 caliber and a .45 caliber. After determining that the appellant was not in the apartment and discovering the pistols, the officers said, 'We'll leave things as they are and we'll go out and look for him; he's not here.'

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