Marshall v. State

• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
• Citation: Marshall v. State, 366 S.W.2d 572 (Tex. Crim. App. 1963)
• Decision Date: 10 April 1963
• Docket Number: No. 35545,35545
• Parties: Roy MARSHALL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

Page 572

366 S.W.2d 572

Roy MARSHALL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 35545.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

April 10, 1963.

H. R. Rolston, Lufkin, for appellant.

Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

DICE, Commissioner.

The conviction is for murder; the punishment, life imprisonment.

The evidence was undisputed that appellant killed the deceased by shooting him with a pistol, the homicide occurring at a motel in the city of Lufkin.

It was shown by the state's testimony that the deceased occupied a room at the motel with his wife and small child. The room was rented from Mrs. Willie Renfro, who operated the courts. On the night before the killing, appellant was discovered near a window of the deceased's room. At such time, appellant was in a drunken condition. The deceased and his wife proceeded to take him to the police and, after filing a complaint against him, he was placed in jail. The next morning, as the deceased and his wife were packing their car to leave, appellant, who had been released from jail, came to their cabin and stated that Mrs. Renfro blamed him for their leaving. The deceased replied that they did not blame him. Appellant went to Mrs. Renfro's cabin, which was locked. When she would not let him in, he unlocked the door and went inside. Mrs. Renfro was then heard to cry out for help, in a loud voice. Thereupon, the deceased, who was packing his car, proceeded to go inside Mrs. Renfro's cabin, grab appellant by the shoulders, and throw him outside.

While appellant was lying on the ground and the deceased was standing nearby talking to him, appellant produced a gun and fired three fatal shots which struck the deceased in the chest.

The issue of self-defense was raised by the evidence and submitted to the jury. The deceased's wife, who witnessed the shooting, testified that her husband first tried to kick the gun out of appellant's hand and that when the first shot was fired he started stepping backward.

Appellant testified that when he shot the deceased, the deceased was coming toward him and it appeared that he was about to do him bodily harm.

Appellant complains of testimony given by Sheriff Leon Jones in which he related certain statements made to him by Mrs. Willie Renfro when he arrived upon the scene some ten or eleven minutes after the shooting. Sheriff Jones testified that after he arrived and had placed appellant in the custody of two deputies, he proceeded to Mrs. Renfro's cabin and that Mrs. Renfro, who at the time was very excited, said to him:

'Leon, if you all don't take Roy and keep him he is going to kill some more of us.'

Mrs. Renfro also said:

'* * * he has wanted to kill somebody every since he shot at Bourbon and now he has killed * * *'.

Quoting further from the witness's testimony:

['Who is Bourbon?] A Bourbon is her husband.

['Q All right. Go ahead?] A She said he has killed this boy and it would have been me if he hadn't of stepped between us.

['Q All right. Did she make any further statement?] A Yes, she said that she couldn't keep Roy away from her place, that he had worked there previously and that while he was working there that he made pass keys to all of her buildings and that everytime she got a customer there and he thought a woman was there that he tried to get into the apartment where she was.'

Appellant objected to the testimony on the ground that the statements made by Mrs. Renfro to the sheriff were outside his presence and...