Holley v. State

REYNOLDS, Chief Justice.

A jury convicted appellant Jimmy Reaf Holley of the offense of murder and assessed his punishment at confinement for 99 years and a $10,000 fine. As appellant contends in his fourth ground of error, the court fundamentally erred in authorizing the jury, in derogation of the statute, to convict him of murder as the consequence of his commission of, or attempt to commit, a misdemeanor offense. Therefore, we will reverse and remand.

The State’s theory of prosecution was that appellant committed murder when he caused the death of his infant daughter by scalding her with hot…