Johnson v. State

Decision Date26 November 1930
Docket NumberNo. 13739.,13739.
Citation32 S.W.2d 840
PartiesJOHNSON v. STATE.
CourtTexas Court of Criminal Appeals

Appeal from District Court, Jefferson County; R. L. Murray, Judge.

Richard Johnson was convicted of murder, and he appeals.

Reversed and remanded.

Shivers & Baker, of Port Arthur, for appellant.

Lloyd W. Davidson, State's Atty., of Austin, for the State.

MARTIN, J.

Offense, murder; penalty, two years in the penitentiary.

A colored dance was in progress in the city of Port Arthur. Deceased, James Hadnot, was found by Officer Plummer a short distance from the dance hall mortally wounded. Soon thereafter appellant stated to Officer Plummer that he had stabbed deceased. The state's case was made originally by proof of the statements given by appellant to Officer Plummer.

Appellant offered to prove by this same officer while on the stand as a witness for the state that he also at the same time and place and in the same conversation detailed how the trouble started and how it occurred, unnecessary here to detail further than to state that it made a complete case of self-defense practically in the exact language testified to by appellant for himself on the trial. The court rejected the part of the conversation which showed the killing was in self-defense, but admitted that part of it for the state already detailed.

The appellant correctly contends that the court was in error in rejecting that part of the conversation between the officer and appellant which showed the killing was in self-defense. Such testimony is made admissible by article 728, C. C. P. (1925), which reads in part as follows: "When part of an act, declaration or conversation or writing is given in evidence by one party, the whole on the same subject may be inquired into by the other. * * *"

The state having introduced part of this conversation, the appellant was entitled to the remainder of it relating to the same subject, as has been held in authorities so numerous that their collation here would occupy undue space. The question is not debatable. See Vernon's Tex. C. C. P. art. 728, note 2; Branch's P. C. § 91; Shackelford v. State, 43 Tex. 138; Pharr v. State, 9 Tex. App. 134; Sager v. State, 11 Tex. App. 113; Gaither v. State, 21 Tex. App. 539, 1 S. W. 456. See, also, recent case of Sanderson v. State, 109 Tex. Cr. R. 142, 2 S.W.(2d) 453, where the exact question is discussed and decided.

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2 cases
  • Durbin, et vir v Sumner County Regional Health, 00-02109
    • United States
    • Tennessee Court of Appeals
    • 6 Septiembre 2001
    ...340 (6th Cir. 1998) and Lipscomb v. Doe, No. 02A01-9711-CV-00293, 1998 WL 886601 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1998), rev'd on other grounds, 32 S.W.2d 840 (Tenn. 2000). The court stated, "TENN. CODE ANN. § 20-1-119 is not applicable to this case because clearly plaintiffs knew or should have known that ......
  • Trammell v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
    • 21 Octubre 1942
    ...1187; Chappel v. State, 136 Tex.Cr.R. 528, 126 S.W.2d 984; Porter v. State, 137 Tex.Cr.R. 100, 128 S.W.2d 395; Johnson v. State, 116 Tex.Cr. R. 453, 32 S.W.2d 840; Avirett v. State, 128 Tex.Cr.R. 647, 84 S.W.2d 482. In the Johnson case, supra, a murder case, the State, to show guilt of the ......

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