Parker v. State , 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 934 ( 1968 )

OPINION

WOODLEY, Presiding Judge.

The offense is murder; the punishment, 10 years.

The indictment alleged that on or about August 24, 1966, appellant, with malice aforethought, killed Helen Kelley “by drowning her in water and by holding her head under water until she suffocated.”

The trial, which began on August 22, 1967, was before a jury on a plea of not guilty. The state did not seek the death penalty. The jury having found him guilty as charged, appellant elected to have the court assess the punishment.

Ground , of error No. 1 complains that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction, the principal contention being that there is no evidence or insufficient evidence to show that the death of Helen Kelley was caused by the criminal act of appellant or by criminal violence.

The state relied upon circumstantial evidence.

The evidence shows that on the evening of August 23,1966, Helen Kelley (deceased) was drinking in Mary’s Lounge. Ima Slater, who was also drinking, joined Mrs. Kelley at the Lounge, and at closing time Mrs. Kelley and Mrs. Slater left the Lounge with appellant and the three proceeded to a place in Harris County on the San Jacinto River, below Magnolia Gardens, for a picnic. They continued to drink wine on the way and all were intoxicated.

While Mrs. Slater was roasting weiners at the fire appellant had built, appellant said to Helen Kelley (who was in the car) “Let’s go swimming, Helen, that’s what we came here for,” to which Helen Kelley replied, “Leon, you know I can’t swim.”

Appellant and the deceased then went down the river bank to a log imbedded in the sand which protruded out into deep water.

Mrs. Slater remained at the fire. She heard the murmur of voices and splashing, but no outcry or scream or commotion. The log could not be seen from the location of the fire.

After some 30 or 40 minutes appellant returned to the camp fire and told Mrs. Slater that he left Helen sitting on the log to come get her.

Mrs. Slater called “Helen” a number of times but received no answer.

Appellant made no explanation of Mrs. Kelley’s disappearance except that “Helen” was so despondent “since Jack left her, she may have taken her life.”

Mrs. Slater testified that appellant said something to the effect that they “were in this together,” and testified in part:

“Q. Well, did he ask you to go swimming?

“A. Yes. He asked me to go swimming later but I said I’m not going in swimming because I can’t swim.

“Q. And he said do you want it the easy way or the hard way ?

“A. Yes, sir.

“Q. And you knew what he was talking about ?

“A. No, sir.

“Q. Were you afraid?

“A. Yes, sir.

“Q. What of?

“A. Because I can’t swim. I’m deathly afraid of water. I didn’t want to go get in the water at night.

“Q. And that’s all you were afraid of?

“A. No. I thought if something happened to her, something might happen to me. I guess I was thinking about my safety all the way through.

“Q. When did you first become afraid?

“A. The second time I asked him where was Helen and he said the second time she was sitting on the log and I just didn’t hear any sounds and I didn’t believe she was on any log. That’s when I got afraid.

“Q. Did he say poor thing, she’s taken her life, or that she slipped in the river and we had better help her? Did anybody think about that or say anything about that ?

“A. The only thing I said was Let’s go. That’s all I wanted to do to see if we could report it or somthing.

“Q. What were you going to report?

“A. Well, she was missing. I didn’t hear her or see her and she came out with us.

“Q. Did you ever tell Mrs. Whickliff why you were crying?

“A. I don’t remember. I told her something terrible had happened. I was so shook up I just broke when I got to her house. I don’t think she believed it. I was just babbling.

“Q. What did you tell her?

“A. I told her something terrible happened. The three of us went to the river and she came up missing. I don’t know what I said. I was just panicky.”

Mrs. Slater further testified that on the way back to town appellant threw something out of the car.

When she accompanied officers to the camp site the next day the officers found Helen Kelley’s dress and other clothing along the road to the camp site.

Mrs. Louise Whickliff testified that about 9:30 the morning Helen Kelley was drowned she saw a man drive Mrs. Slater to a vacant house next door to her home. Mrs. Slater got out of the car and she (the witness) went outside and called her and she came in.

She testified:

“Q. What did she do as soon as she got in your house ?

“A. She went into the bathroom and she come out and started crying and said she was scared.

“Q. Was she crying loud or how was she crying — describe how she looked and acted.

“A. She wasn’t crying loud but like she was kind of hysterical.

“Q. Like she was hysterical, and did she say she was scared at that time ?

“A. Yes.

“Q. Without going into what she said, did she say who she was afraid of ?

“A. She said the man she got out of the car. She didn’t say the man.

“Q. (By Mr. Ernst) Did she or not tell you she was hiding from the man?

“A. (By Witness) She asked me to tell him she wasn’t there.

“Q. (By Mr. Ernst) Did you have a conversation with her relating to what happened that night?

“A. (By Witness) Yes, we did—

“MR. CANESSA: We object, to that question relating to what happened. I think it’s a vague question. I still think it’s bordering on a fishing expedition.

“THE COURT: I sustain the objection at this time.”

On cross-examination she testified:

“Q. You knew the lady pretty well. How do you account for the fact that she had been to your house on these occasions and had never gone to the house next door? Why would she have gone to that house that morning?

“A. She said she was trying to get away from the man.

“Q. But she wasn’t too drunk to know where she was going?

“A. No, she wasn’t.”

Helen Kelley’s nude body was found floating face down in the San Jacinto River about 9:30 or 10 A.M. on August 24, 1966.

The post mortem examination performed by Dr. Jachimczyk, Harris County Medical Examiner, which began about 1 P.M. on August 24, 1966, took several hours and Dr. Jachimczyk’s testimony described to the court and jury in detail the external examination and internal dissection and laboratory analysis and his findings from which he formed the opinion that Helen Kelley died as the result of suffocation from drowning within an hour or two of 1 o’clock A.M. on August 24, 1966.

Dr. Jachimczyk testified in part:

“Q. And you also examined completely the internal portions of this woman, did you not?

“A. Yes, sir.

“Q. Tell the jury whether there was any significant findings inside the body that shed a light upon how she met her death.

“A. Yes, sir. The most significant internal anatomic changes are those present in drowning, namely, the dark fluid unclotted blood, the congestion of the viscera which means water lodging over tissues of the body. The pulmonary edema which is also water on the lungs, and the peticial hemorrhages which are the result of lack of oxygen in the water the person breathes. Those are the internal findings as far as the drowning aspect is concerned. In addition, however, there were fresh recent hemorrhages into the so-called strap muscles. The strap muscle.? is that muscle on either side of the neck that make the head turn. There were hemorrhages on either side of the neck into these muscles. Also hemorrhage down behind the clavicle or collarbone and these were— and also extended from this outside discoloration we mentioned on the neck, and (his type of hemorrhages are the result of something or someone restraining this portion of the anatomy and an individual resisting this restraint.

“Q. You have two conclusions. Unquestionably this woman met her death because her lungs were filled with water, is this correct?

■ “A. That is correct.

“Q. And there was severe force placed by someone against the strap muscles on either side of this woman’s neck?

“A. That is correct.

“Q. Is there any doubt at all in your mind about that?

“A. No, sir.”

(On re-direct examination)

“Q. Have you performed an autopsy on few or many of these strangulation by hand type of cases ?

“A. Many cases.

“Q. Is the — are the marks left by hand strangulation, is there a pattern, in your professional judgment, that would follow?

“A. Yes, sir.

“Q. Is this a classic hand pattern?

“A. These are symmetrical type hemorrhage seen when the upper part of the body is restrained by hand.

“Q. In all medical probability based on your experience of having seen many, many strangulation cases, these were similar to those ?

“A. Yes, sir.

“Q. And in all probability then in that manner ?

“A. Yes, sir.”

Deputy Sheriff Eddie Knowles, who assisted in recovering the body from the river and took pictures at the river and in the morgue, testified in part:

“Q. After determining who it was that was dead, did you participate any further in the investigation as to the party who was indicted for this offense?

“A. No, sir. I had nothing more to do outside of putting out a pickup on him and the F.B.I. helping us.

“Q. Do you know how long it was before he was apprehended?

“A. I don’t know how long it was. I know a good lapse of time. We kept missing him.

“Q. But you didn’t do anything but send out an A.P.B.?

“A. Yes, sir.

“Q. And a good time later he was apprehended in another county?

“A. Yes, sir, that’s correct.”

Deputy Sheriff John Conley, who accompanied Mrs. Slater to the camp site and -found the dress and clothing, testified that he examined the camp site and log and waded in the water by the log; that there were no branches on the log and no snags or logs on which a person who was standing there drunk would be likely to catch his or her neck.

Deputy Conley also testified:

“Q. Do you recall if this investigation occurred on the day after the body was found? It would have been August, I guess the 25th. When was this defendant arrested?

“A. He was arrested February 1st, 1967.

“Q. And where ?

“A. In Vidor, Texas.

“Q. Where is that, sir?

“A. Well, that’s near Beaumont. It would be out Highway 73.

Q. That would be six months later?

“A. Yes, sir.

“Q. Do you know when a complaint was filed against this individual and a warrant issued for him, whether or not it was in the month of August?

“A. I believe it was. I’m not positive of the dates.”

(The transcript of the record of the Texas Department of Public Safety concerning the appellant, introduced without objection at the hearing before the court on the punishment issue, reflects, in addition to the felony convictions stipulated and a number of misdemeanor convictions, “wanted: 12-13-66, as Jessie Leon Parker for murder. Notify SO, Houston, Texas. 2-3-67 Cane. auth. SO, Houston, Texas.”)

This court must view the circumstantial evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict in passing upon its sufficiency. Blankenship v. State, 167 Tex. Cr.R. 192, 319 S.W.2d 107; Franklin v. State, 147 Tex.Cr.R. 636, 183 S.W.2d 573.

The credibility of the witness Ima Slater and the reasonableness of her testimony was for the jury.

“Very wisely the jury has been made the exclusive judges of the facts proven and the weight to be given to the testimony * * * this court does not, and should not, assume to exercise the right to reverse on the facts, unless the evidence, when viewed in its strongest light from the standpoint of the state, fails to make guilt reasonably certain. * * * ” (Quote from Mason v. State, 1 S.W.2d 283, at p. 284.)

“While this court has the right to reverse a judgment of conviction on account of the insufficiency of the evidence (Texas Code Crim. Procedure, art. 939) and it becomes its duty to do so ‘if the guilt of the accused is not made to appear with reasonable certainty’ (Mitchell v. State, 33 Tex.Cr.R. [575] 577, 28 S.W. 475), no fixed rule has been devised which will in all cases furnish a certain standard. Necessarily each case must in a measure be tested by its own facts (Mitchell v. State, 33 Tex.Cr.R. [575,] 577, 28 S.W. 475; Hampton v. State, 1 Tex.App. 652; Burrill on Circumstantial Evidence, p. 737; Wills on Circumstantial Evidence, p. 188). However, when a jury, advised of the restrictions which the law places upon them in condemning one on circumstantial evidence, reaches the conclusion upon evidence properly before them that the accused is guilty, it is not for the reviewing court to supplant their findings by its own, unless it is able to point to weaknesses, omissions, or inconsistencies in the evidence which destroy its cogency. This, in the instant case, we are unable to do.” (Quote from Taylor v. State, 87 Tex.Cr.R. 330, 221 S.W. 611, at pages 613 and 614.)

The evidence viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict is sufficient to prove the corpus delicti and to sustain the conviction.

The second ground of error complains of the admission in evidence of “gory color photographs.”

The record reflects that in response to the inquiry of the court, when the photographs were offered by the state, appellant’s trial counsel answered that there was no objection.

The ground of error is overruled. Watkins v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 411 S.W.2d 364.

The remaining ground of error complains of the failure of the trial court to include in his charge a definition of murder without malice and an application of such law to the facts of the case.

The evidence did not raise an issue as to a killing in the heat of passion arising from an adequate cause, and there was no objection to the charge and no requested charge. The ground of error is overruled. Arts. 36.14-36.19 Vernon’s Ann. C.C.P.

The judgment is affirmed.