Simmons v. State

GRAVES, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of murder and given a sentence of ten years in the penitentiary, and he appeals.

According to the state’s testimony, in the early morning hours of August 24, 1949, appellant, as well as many other Negroes, were located in a Negro dive in Port Arthur, where drinking and gambling were indulged in and had been in progress during practically the entire night. About five o’clock in the morning, Tom Garland, Jr., the deceased, was seated at a table in such place with his head in his hands, probably asleep. Thereupon, appellant approached him and struck him. The…