Vela v. State

• Decision Date: 05 May 1894
• Citation: 26 S.W. 396
• Parties: VELA v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

26 S.W. 396

VELA v. STATE.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

May 5, 1894.

Appeal from district court, Caldwell county; H. Tiechmueller, Judge.

Rejirro Vela was convicted of murder, and appeals. Affirmed.

R. L. Henry, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

SIMKINS, J.

Appellant was convicted of the murder of his wife, and his punishment assessed at death, from which he appeals.

Appellant complains that the court erred in failing to define "malice aforethought" to the jury. The error is not well taken. The court charged the jury that "malice is a condition of the mind showing a heart regardless of social duty and fatally bent on mischief, the existence of which is inferred from acts committed or words spoken." Willson's Cr. St. § 1036. The court further correctly instructed the jury upon express and implied malice.

2. The appellant complains that he was manacled in the presence of the jury, who were thereby prejudiced against him. It is not stated at what time appellant was manacled, nor for what cause. The court says in his explanation that, if appellant was manacled, his attention was not called to it, and appellant could not have been injured thereby. It seems, therefore, that no objection or protest was offered by appellant, nor the attention of the court called in any way to the fact, and it cannot be here made the ground of reversal.

3. The court did not err in failing to charge on manslaughter. There was no fact in the evidence upon which such a charge could have been predicated. The court correctly submitted only issues of murder in the first and second degrees, as follows: "If you believe from the evidence that the defendant formed the design to kill the woman, or inflict serious bodily injury upon her, deliberately and sedately, by reason of a previous dispute with her, and he did kill her in pursuance of such preconceived design, you will find the defendant guilty of murder of the first degree, and assess his punishment by death, or confinement in the penitentiary for life. If you believe from the evidence that the defendant did kill the woman as alleged, but that he formed the design to do so immediately before committing the act, and under the influence of violent and sudden passion, you may find him guilty of murder in the second degree, and assess his punishment," etc. The evidence shows that appellant quarreled with his wife the night before the homicide; that the next day he was drinking beer, and, after working awhile, he...