Jones v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas
Appeal from the District Court of Bowie. Tried below before the Hon. W. P. McLean. The death penalty was assessed against the appellant by the jury, which found him guilty in the first degree under an indictment which charged him with the murder of Cate Hicks, in Bowie county, Texas, on the sixth day of August, 1886. Vic Simpson was the first witness for the State. He testified that he knew the defendant and was acquainted with the deceased in his lifetime.
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Appeal from the District Court of Bowie. Tried below before the Hon. W. P. McLean. The death penalty was assessed against the appellant by the jury, which found him guilty in the first degree under an indictment which charged him with the murder of Cate Hicks, in Bowie county, Texas, on the sixth day of August, 1886. Vic Simpson was the first witness for the State. He testified that he knew the defendant and was acquainted with the deceased in his lifetime. The defendant was a tie cutter in the employ of the Texas and St. Louis railroad and was attached to the gang at work near Bossett, in…
1Opinion of the Court
Willson, Judge.
I. It was not error to reject the declarations of the defendant as to why he did the killing. They did not come within the rule of res gestee. They were not sponta*328neons, but were concocted, self serving declarations; not the facts talking through the party, but the party’s talk about the facts. They were wanting in the essential characteristic of instinctiveness to make them a part of the res gestee. (Bradberry v. The State, ante, 273; Whart. Cr. Ev., sec. 691.) Their truth was disproved by all the evidence in the case.
Opinion delivered November 17, 1886.
II. There is no error…
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