Torres v. State, 45859

Decision Date14 March 1973
Docket NumberNo. 45859,45859
PartiesJesse TORRES, Jr., Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
CourtTexas Court of Criminal Appeals

Charles L. Caperton, Dallas, for appellant on appeal only.

Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., and Michael P. Gibson, Asst. Dist. Atty., Dallas, Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., and Robert A. Huttash, Asst. State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

OPINION

DALLY, Commissioner.

The conviction is for burglary with intent to commit theft; the punishment enhanced by proof of two prior nonfelony convictions, life imprisonment.

The appellant urges that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction.

Patrolman Newsome, of the Richardson Police Department, received a radio message at about 2:00 a.m. that a silent burglar alarm indicated a burglary in progress at the Kent Shop in the Promenade Shopping Center. He approached that location with his lights off. About fifteen seconds after he stopped he observed a man inside the shop walking away from the windows. He then saw a man on the outside walk from around the building up near the window. At about that time the man saw the officer, turned and ran. The man that ran was stocky, of dark complexion, with dark hair and was wearing a red shirt. Newsome transmitted a message on the radio to other officers on the way to the scene that the suspect had fled toward the south in the shopping center. Newsome stayed by the Kent Shop where a window pane, about eighteen by twenty-four inches in size, had been broken out.

Officer Pool received the radio message concerning the man of dark complexion wearing the red shirt, who was later shown to be the appellant. While driving in the shopping center, he saw the appellant run in front of his patrol car and crouch in front of a pick-up truck. The truck was parked in a concealed place behind some air conditioning equipment about fifty or sixty yards from the Kent Shop. The appellant was placed in the patrol car and taken back to the Kent Shop.

The owner of the Kent Shop and other officers arrived at the shop before Pool. They entered the shop and found two burglars in the building hiding under piles of clothing.

When Newsome came out of the Kent Shop he observed the appellant sitting in Pool's patrol car and identified him as the man he had seen running from near the shop at the earlier time.

About sixty suits of clothing were found piled outside of the shop approximately fifteen yards from the south wall of the building. Near the broken window on the inside of the shop was a large box containing other clothing. The clothing outside and that near the window had a retail value of approximately eleven thousand dollars.

The defense offered the testimony of Armando Reyes, who was one of the men arrested inside of the shop. He had entered a plea of guilty to the offense of burglary and had been granted probation. His testimony, offered in an attempt to exculpate the appellant, was not believed by the jury. See Washington v. State, 442 S.W.2d 395 (Tex.Cr.App.1969). It did establish however, the fact that the appellant had come to the scene of the burglary with those found inside the shop and further established that the pick-up truck belonged to the appellant.

The owner of the Kent Shop testified that he did not give...

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18 cases
  • Nethery v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
    • May 22, 1985
    ...nor did he move for a mistrial. Appellant must obtain an adverse ruling in order to preserve a matter for review. Torres v. State, 491 S.W.2d 126 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). 5 He received the relief he requested. Appellant argues that a hypothetical question posed by the State to Dr. Lewis Dyll, a n......
  • Rogers v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • June 16, 1988
    ...692 S.W.2d 686, 701 (Tex.Crim.App.1985, en banc), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1110, 106 S.Ct. 897, 88 L.Ed.2d 931 (1986); Torres v. State, 491 S.W.2d 126, 128 (Tex.Crim.App.1973). We will therefore review only those objections to the prosecutor's cross-examination which the trial court The trial......
  • Curren v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • June 15, 1983
    ...crime is insufficient to support a charge on the law of parties. Alexander v. State, 607 S.W.2d 551 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Torres v. State, 491 S.W.2d 126 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). Presence at the scene of the offense is, however, a fact which can be considered in determining whether a charge on the l......
  • Barron v. State, 54285
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
    • June 7, 1978
    ...drinking, and the fact that he was present at the offense, are sufficient to support appellant's conviction as a party. Torres v. State, 491 S.W.2d 126 (Tex.Cr.App.1973); Childress v. State, 465 S.W.2d 947 (Tex.Cr.App.1971); Locke v. State, 484 S.W.2d 918 (Tex.Cr.App.1972). See and compare,......
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