Villarreal v. State, 52800
Decision Date | 23 February 1977 |
Docket Number | No. 52800,52800 |
Citation | 547 S.W.2d 281 |
Parties | Mateo N. VILLARREAL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
DALLY, Commissioner.
This is an appeal from a conviction for the offense of voluntary manslaughter; the punishment is imprisonment for 15 years.
The appellant asserts that inflammatory and prejudicial photographs were admitted in evidence, over his timely objection, which require the reversal of this conviction.
The court admitted three photographs (State's Exhibits Nos. 10, 11, and 12) which portray the same scene, but which were taken from different places within the lounge where the offense was committed. The photographs are black and white and measure approximately eight inches by ten inches. They depict a bloodstained floor, a chalk outline of the victim on the floor where he fell, some bloody clothing, a cartridge, a liquor bottle, and furniture. When the officers who made the photographs arrived, other officers had secured the area to prevent tampering with the evidence. The victim was still alive, and paramedics were attempting to save his life. The officers did not feel it appropriate to take photographs and make measurements at the scene while the paramedics were at work trying to save the victim's life. The victim was removed and the chalk outline of his body was made on the floor. The clothing in the photographs is not that of the victim but is that of bystanders who had apparently attempted to comfort the victim as he lay mortally wounded.
It is argued on behalf of the appellant that the photographs do not solve any issue in the case and the probative value of the photographs is outweighed by their inflammatory and prejudicial nature.
In Martin v. State, 475 S.W.2d 265 (Tex.Cr.App.1972) it was said:
In the later case of Terry v. State, 491 S.W.2d 161 (Tex.Cr.App....
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Hammett v. State
.... . .' " See Lanham v. State, 474 S.W.2d 197 (Tex.Cr.App.1972); Martin v. State, 475 S.W.2d 265 (Tex.Cr.App.1972); Villarreal v. State, 547 S.W.2d 281 (Tex.Cr.App.1977); see also McCormick's Handbook on the Law of Evidence, Section 214 (E. Cleary ed. It is clear that the photographs were pr......
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Brooks v. State
...before the jury. David v. State, 453 S.W.2d 172 (Tex.Cr.App.1970); Martin v. State, 475 S.W.2d 265 (Tex.Cr.App.1972); Villarreal v. State, 547 S.W.2d 281 (Tex.Cr.App.1977). Thus, this picture introduced nothing regarding children of the deceased that was not already before the jury. No erro......