Smith v. State
| Decision Date | 11 January 1961 |
| Docket Number | No. 32533,32533 |
| Citation | 171 Tex.Crim. 313,350 S.W.2d 344,82 S.Ct. 126 |
| Parties | Joe Edward SMITH, Appellant, v. STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Joe Ed Winfree, Sr., and Joe Ed Winfree, Jr., Houston, for appellant.
Dan Walton, Dist. Atty., Samuel H. Robertson, Jr., Lee P. Ward, Jr., Gus J. Zgourides, Assts. Dist. Atty., Houston, and Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
DICE, Commissioner.
The offense is murder; the punishment, death.
The appellant and Adrian Johnson were jointly charged by indictment with the murder of William Merrill Bodenheimer.
Upon the granting of a severance, Johnson was separately tried and convicted with his punishment assessed at death. Upon appeal to this Court, the judgment of conviction was affirmed in an opinion which is found reported in Johnson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 336 S.W.2d 175.
The facts in the two cases are similar and show that on the afternoon of July 20, 1959, the deceased, a young boy twelve years of age, left home on his bicycle to go swimming. Upon his failure to return at the expected hour, a search was made for him which ended at 9:45 a. m. on the following morning, July 21, when the nude dead body of the deceased was found inside a closed refrigerator in a small shack.
It was shown that on the evening of July 20, the appellant was seen around 6 p. m. with Adrian Johnson and some other boys at the Chuck Wagon, an eating place located a short distance west of the shack where the deceased body was found. At such time the deceased was also seen at the place and, as the appellant and his companions walked by, appellant was heard to say 'Lets get the white boy when he leaves here.' Thereafter, the deceased was seen to get on his bicycle and travel in the same direction the appellant and his companions had gone.
On July 21, appellant was arrested without a warrant at his home around 11:50 p. m. by Lt. T. F. Clark of the Robbery Division of the Houston Police Department and taken to the police station for questioning concerning several robbery cases. During the questioning, appellant implicated himself in the murder of the deceased, and after being duly warned by Lt. Clark, made and signed a written statement on July 22 at 7:25 a. m. concerning the killing of the deceased which was introduced in evidence over appellant's objection as State's Exhibit No. 13.
In the statement appellant stated that on July 20, 1959 he was in company with his brother Ira Lee Saddler, Adrian Johnson, David Clemens, and Charles Archer; that around 6 p. m. as they were walking on West Gray, Charles Archer hit and knocked a white boy off a bicycle who looked to be about 'ten or eleven'; that appellant and Adrian Johnson then grabbed the boy and 'packed' him across the street; that Clemens picked up the boy and 'packed' him to a little house while Archer was holding the boy's mouth to keep him from 'hollering'; that Clemens took the boy inside the house and they all went inside except appellant's brother who stayed outside and brought the boy's bicycle to the house. Appellant then related how, after going inside the house, Clemens and Archer took off the boy's clothing and Clemens, Adrian Johnson, the appellant, and Charles Archer, in the order named, proceeded to commit rectal sodomy upon him. Appellant stated that after he had finished committing the act he went outside, that he went home, and that later in the night he saw David Clemens who told him that Adrian Johnson and David Clemens 'had put the white boy in the ice box that was inside the little house.'
It was shown by the testimony of Chemist and Toxicologist Robert F. Crawford of the Houston Police Department that a human hair found in the hip pocket of the trousers of Ira Lee Saddler (appellant's brother) compared with and had identical characteristics with hairs taken from the head of the deceased and from his public and anus region. It was also shown that on July 24 Chemist Crawford examined the bodies of the appellant and Adrian Johnson and was present when pictures were taken of them. He stated that in his examination of the appellant he found 'on the underneath side of his penis near the head * * * what appeared to be an abrasion or a bruise which was close to the head of the penis' and on the body of Adrian Johnson he found 'a bruise on the underneath side of his penis.' The photographs were introduced in evidence by the State.
Dr. Joseph A. Jachimczyk, Harris County Forensic Pathologist, testified that on the morning of July 21 he went to the scene of the crime where he observed the body of the deceased inside the refrigerator and that he later performed an autopsy upon the body. Dr. Jachimczyk testified that his external examination of the body disclosed various bruises, cuts and scratches including two bruises on each side of the neck which were compatible to a person being choked. He further testified that his internal examination of the body revealed a tear in the left leaf of the diaphragm with a rupture in the fundus, or the top side of the stomach, which was compatible to a person's body being crushed in a 'bear hug'. He further stated that his examination revealed tears and overstretching of the rectum and that smears taken from the rectum, upon being examined, indicated that they contained sperm heads. He further stated that the injuries found in the anal orifice of the deceased were such that could have been caused by a male erected penis and that the injuries and bruises on the penes of appellant and Adrian Johnson were such that would have been caused by the insertion of a male penis in an erected state into a tight orifice. Dr. Jachimczyk testified that in his opinion the cause of death of the deceased was 'asphyxia due to pressure on the neck, and on the left chest' in association with the act of sodomy. He further expressed the opinion that the deceased was dead or near death when placed in the refrigerator and that the injuries would have caused his death irrespective of whether he had been placed in the refrigerator.
Testifying in his own behalf, appellant denied molesting the deceased and being present when he was killed. In his testifmony, appellant repudiated his written statement made to Officer Clark and swore that it was not true. Appellant testified that, while he was being interrogated, the officers slapped, struck, kicked and beat him, held a gun to his head, made him stand against the wall with his hands outstretched, and that the reason he signed the confession was because of what the officers had done to him and to keep them from beating him.
Appellant also called witnesses who testified in support of his defense of alibi.
The State...
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