Court Opinion

ID: 9684636
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:05:45.116733+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:58.211828
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Judge,
dissenting.
Although I concur with the dissenting opinion of my Brother Phillips, I also dissent from the majority’s disposition of the appellant’s contention that he was entitled to a charge on circumstantial evidence.
It is well settled that direct evidence is that evidence which directly demonstrates the main fact to be proved. Circumstantial evidence, on the other hand, is that evidence which directly proves a secondary fact which, by logical inference, demonstrates the main fact. Crawford v. State, 502 S.W.2d 768 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). In Ransonette v. State, 550 S.W.2d 36, 42 (Tex.Cr.App.1976) (Opinion on the Appellant’s Motion for Rehearing), this Court stated:
“A charge on circumstantial evidence is required only where the evidence of the main fact essential to guilt is purely and entirely circumstantial. See e. g. Wilson v. State, 154 Tex.Cr.R. 59, 225 S.W.2d 173 (1949). A charge on circumstantial evidence is necessary only when the State’s case depends entirely upon circumstances for conviction. See e. g. Nailing v. State, 152 Tex.Cr.R. 161, 211 S.W.2d 757 (1948); Wells v. State, 134 Tex.Cr.R. 412, 115 S.W.2d 658 (1938). An instruction as to circumstantial evidence need not be given where the State relies only in part on circumstantial evidence, Lawler v. State, 110 Tex.Cr.R. 460, 9 S.W.2d 259 (1927); Coleman v. State, 90 Tex.Cr.R. 297, 235 S.W. 898 (1921), even though the State relies on a chain of circumstances that may be considered the major part of the evidence on which the State relies for conviction. Dodd v. State, 149 Tex.Cr.R. 156, 192 S.W.2d 263 (1946). See 31 Tex. Jur.2d 682-683, Instructions, See. 123; Morris v. State, 402 S.W.2d 161 (Tex.Cr.App.1966); Russell v. State, 396 S.W.2d 117 (Tex.Cr.App.1965).” Id. at 43.
In the present case, the main fact to be proved was that the appellant murdered his wife. The only evidence, aside from the appellant’s inadmissible confession, which can even arguably be classified as direct *927evidence, is contained in the following portion of the majority opinion:
“Appellant testified in his own behalf at the guilt-innocence phase of the trial. On direct examination appellant testified that the deceased pointed the pistol at him and pulled the trigger but that the gun did not go off. He stated, T remember getting to her and she and I started tussling with the gun and after that I don’t know what happened.’ Appellant said that he did not recall shooting his wife. He said that if he did shoot her, he did so accidentally. During cross-examination the appellant testified concerning his jealousy towards the deceased. The prosecutor then asked the appellant, ‘Is that why you shot her?’ Appellant replied, ‘No, that’s not why I shot her.’ ”
The majority has apparently classified the foregoing as direct evidence. This was illogical and erroneous.
The appellant’s statement that he remembered getting to his wife and “tussling” with the gun and that after that he did not “know what happened” was direct evidence that there was an altercation between the appellant and his wife; it is not direct evidence that the appellant murdered his wife. Furthermore, the appellant’s statement that he did not remember what happened after the altercation is not direct evidence of anything except a poor memory-
Moreover, the appellant’s statement that if he did shoot his wife, it was accidental is not direct evidence of anything. In light of the appellant’s testimony that he could not remember shooting his wife, this statement by the appellant was conjecture at best. Likewise, the appellant’s testimony “concerning his jealousy towards the deceased” is not direct evidence that the appellant shot his wife.
The final aspect of the appellant’s testimony which the majority relies upon is the prosecutor’s question, “Is that why you shot her?” and the appellant’s response, “No, that’s not why I shot her.” Immediately before this question and answer, the following occurred:
“Q Didn’t you think, during this period of time, that she was going out with somebody else?
“A Like I stated, I was jealous of her.
“Q The question was: Did you not think during this period of time, that she was going out with somebody else?
“A Yes.
“Q You still think at this time she was going out with somebody else?
“A I don’t know.”
The prosecutor’s question is ambiguous. It can be construed in either of two ways. First, the question can be construed to be two questions in one: (1) Did the appellant shoot his wife; and (2) Did he shoot his wife because he thought she was going out with another man. Second, the question can be construed to assume that the appellant shot his wife while asking for the reason he shot her. In either situation, the appellant’s answer can hardly be construed to be an admission that he shot his wife. I cannot conclude that the appellant’s answer to the prosecutor’s question is direct evidence of the main fact to be proved. Nor can I conclude that all of the foregoing facts are direct evidence that the appellant murdered his wife. At best, they are facts from which the jury could have inferred that the appellant murdered his wife. Beyond any doubt, these facts were circumstantial evidence, not direct evidence.
Therefore, it becomes apparent that if the appellant’s confession had been excluded, there was a complete absence of direct evidence that the appellant murdered his wife. A circumstantial evidence charge was thus required and the trial judge committed reversible error by failing to submit the appellant’s requested charge on the law of circumstantial evidence to the jury.
For the foregoing reasons, I dissent.