Splawn v. State, 27699
| Citation | 283 S.W.2d 66,162 Tex.Crim. 197 |
| Decision Date | 05 October 1955 |
| Docket Number | No. 27699,27699 |
| Parties | George SPLAWN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Arthur O'Connor, Belton, Jerome M. Smith, Wm. Yelderman, Austin, for appellant.
Raymond Thornton, Dist. Atty., Belton, Leon b. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
Arson is the offense; the punishment, two years in the penitentiary.
The indictment alleged that appellant wilfully burned a house, of which he was the owner, there being within said house property belonging to one Theodore W. Andrews.
The burned house was a tenant house in the East part of Belton. It was located on a 6 acre tract of land some 200 yards southwest of the house occupied by appellant and his wife and daughter.
Andrews, a Sergeant in a Medical Detachment at Ft. Hood, testified that he rented the house in question from appellant and had occupied it with his family as a place of residence since October 1953; that he rented it unfurnished, and all of the furniture in the house belonged to him.
The house was destroyed by fire on Saturday, June 5, 1954, about 8:30 P.M. There is ample evidence to support a finding that the fire was of incendiary origin, gasoline having been used.
Appellant did not testify. The court charged the jury on the law of circumstantial evidence. The sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury's finding that appellant was the person who set fire to the house is challenged.
On this issue, the State's evidence shows the following:
Some six weeks before the fire, appellant had asked Sgt. Andrews to move, but thereafter sent him word that he could remain as a tenant.
On the day of the fire, appellant advised Sgt. Andrews that his rent was to be increased ten dollars. Andrews told appellant that he had no choice but to pay the increased rent since rent houses were hard to find, and on the same occasion advised appellant that he was making a short visit to Mississippi. Appellant assured Andrews that he would look after the house during his absence.
The Andrews family departed about 1:30 or 2 P.M. Before leaving, they nailed down the windows, locked the doors and cut off the electricity and the butane gas.
A hat found at the scene of the fire was identified as being a hat identical with that appellant was wearing on the afternoon in question.
There was evidence that the net wire fence had been mashed down and one or more staples pulled out at a point immediately between the tenant house and appellant's home.
An oil can was found on the porch near a window which shows to have been broken or pushed out before the fire. Immediately inside this window a cigarette lighter was found, still in working order, which was identified by state witnesses as belonging to appellant.
Leo Taylor testified that he went to appellant's home on the day his rent house burned, to get him to go hunting, and found no one there. He found appellant in Belton sitting on the steps of the First National Bank.
Appellant, according to Taylor, left for home to get a light for the planned hunt, and returned some thirty minutes later and the two left in Taylor's car for the hunt. Some five minutes before appellant returned, Taylor saw the fire truck leave the station heading east, toward appellant's home, from which direction appellant soon thereafter returned with the light.
Taylor made the statement that he wondered where the fire was and appellant said he did not know, and there was no further mention of the fire or the fire truck's run in the direction of appellant's home, though Taylor and appellant hunted together until past midnight.
There was evidence also, from the State, that the next morning appellant's face was 'rather red, it looked sun burned or it was burnt, a reddish tint.'
Appellant's wife testified that he burned his face and hands while using a leaky blow torch on Monday after the house burned. The owner of the torch testified that it did not leak when he used it.
It was also shown that the house was insured against loss by fire, the $5,000 policy being payable to appellant's wife.
We are unable to agree that the circumstantial evidence, viewed from the state's standpoint, is insufficient to sustain a finding that appellant burned the house.
Appellant's remaining claims of error will be considered in the order in which they are presented in his brief.
It is contended that there is no evidence to support the jury's finding that appellant was the owner of the house, and that the State, on cross-examination of appellant's wife, established a variance in the matter of ownership of the property.
Appellant's wife testified that they were married in 1915; that she was divorced from him in 1...
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...I do not.' Therefore, no violation of Article 38.11, V.A.C.C.P., is shown. Jones v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 501 S.W.2d 308; Splawn v. State, 162 Tex.Cr.R. 197, 283 S.W.2d 66. Appellant's eighth ground of error is In his ninth ground of error, the appellant contends the trial court erred in allo......
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...rational trier of fact to have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant is guilty of the instant offense. Splawn v. State, 162 Tex.Crim. 197, 283 S.W.2d 66 (1955); Taylor v. State, 735 S.W.2d 930 (Tex.App.--Dallas 1987). Therefore, appellant's first point of error is Appellant's s......
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...on that which is germane to her direct examination. McCormick & Ray, Texas Practice, Evidence, Sec. 500 (2d ed. 1956); Splawn v. State, 162 Tex.Cr.R. 197, 283 S.W.2d 66. Dollinger v. State, 156 Tex.Cr.R. 397, 242 S.W.2d 891; Roberts v. State, 74 Tex.Cr.R. 150, 168 S.W. 100. Thus, while the ......