Slaton v. State

OPINION

EVANS, Chief Justice.

A jury convicted the defendant of murder, and the trial court assessed his punishment at eight years confinement. We reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand the cause for a new trial.

In the early morning hours of February 4,1983, the Houston police were called to a downtown motor inn, where they found the body of a man who had fallen from the seventh floor balcony. At the scene, an eyewitness told the police that he was the next-door neighbor of the dying man and the appellant. The witness gave a statement to the police, indicating that the deceased had…