Williams v. State, 24161.

• Decision Date: 10 November 1948
• Docket Number: No. 24161.,24161.
• Citation: 214 S.W.2d 622
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

214 S.W.2d 622

WILLIAMS v. STATE.

No. 24161.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

November 10, 1948.

Appeal from Criminal District Court No. 2, Harris County; Langston G. King, Judge.

Thurman Williams was convicted of murder, and he appeals.

Affirmed.

No attorneys on appeal for appellant.

A. C. Winborn, Cr. Dist. Atty., and E. B. Duggan and E. T. Branch, Asst. Crim. Dist. Attys., all of Houston, and Ernest S. Goens, State's Atty., of Austin, for the State.

BEAUCHAMP, Judge.

The appeal is from a death sentence for murder. The indictment returned by the Grand Jury of Harris County on January 23, 1948, alleges the murder of C. N. Herridge by shooting him with a gun.

The evidence shows that on the night of October 28, 1947, Herridge and his wife had retired and that shortly thereafter they were awakened by the noise made by someone starting their car. They rushed to the door and saw the car rolling backwards out of the driveway towards the street. Herridge made a dash for the car and when he was within a few feet of it a flash of fire was seen and the sound of a gun was heard. Herridge screamed and fell to the ground dead. He was shot through the heart and died instantly. The man in the car got out, left it a few feet but returned to it and again started the car and backed it into the street where it ran into a culvert and was fastened. After several efforts to extricate the automobile he fled from the car and, as he did so, a witness in a car that was approaching saw the party and was able to describe a jacket which he wore, but was not able to identify appellant as the party escaping.

Many days passed before an arrest was made. A reward of $100 was offered through the newspapers for the one who would find the gun that did the shooting. Appellant was advised of this and took an officer to the place where the gun was, recovered it and the next day he received the hundred dollars. Up to this time there appears to have been no suspicion that he was the guilty party. The investigation, however, centered on him and circumstances were developed which caused his arrest.

When he was brought to the court house he signed a written confession which was introduced without objection. This confession included the story of the burglary of a residence during a night about ten days prior to the homicide in which he stole a jacket and some other articles. On the following Sunday night he burglarized another house and stole a gun. The murder occurred on Tuesday night thereafter. Both the gun and the jacket were identified as the articles taken in the burglaries. The jacket fits the description given by the...