Legal Opinion

Swan v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas

Decided October 19, 1898No. 1791PublishedCited by 2 opinions

Appeal from the District Court of Bastrop. Tried below before Hon. Ed. B. Sinks. Appeal from a conviction for murder in the first degree; penalty, death. The indictment charged appellant with the murder of Clifton Swan, on the 23d of June, 1898, by shooting him with a pistol. Clifton Swan was the father of appellant.

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Appeal from the District Court of Bastrop. Tried below before Hon. Ed. B. Sinks. Appeal from a conviction for murder in the first degree; penalty, death. The indictment charged appellant with the murder of Clifton Swan, on the 23d of June, 1898, by shooting him with a pistol. Clifton Swan was the father of appellant. Independent of defendant’s confession as set out below, the testimony showed in substance that defendant was 19 years of age, and that he lived with his father and stepmother. That he had run off from home once or twice, and his father had whipped him for it. About two years…

1Opinion of the Court

HEEDEBSOE", Judge.

Appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, and his punishment assessed at death.

There are only two assignments of error in the record, both involving the same question, to wit, the refusal of the court to charge on murder in the second degree. We have examined the record very carefully, and do not find that the evidence required a charge on any grade of homicide less than murder in the first degree. The confessions -of the defendant clearly show a case of assassination. Aside from the confessions, the evidence is purely circumstantial; but it points unmistakably…

2Cited by2 opinions

  1. Stullivan v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1905
  2. Palmer v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1922

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