Blake v. State

Citations

• 3 Tex. Ct. App. 581

Syllabus

<p>1. Homicide — Charge of the Court.—Being tried for murder, the appellant was convicted of manslaughter, and assigns as error that the court below charged the jury on murder in the first degree, though there was no evidence to which the charge was applicable. Held, that, not having been convicted of murder in the first degree, appellant cannot complain of this feature of the charge.</p> <p>2. Same—Reasonable Doubt. — The necessity and propriety, in murder cases, of a charge upon the doctrine of reasonable doubt, not only on the general issue of guilt or innocence, but also as between the degrees of culpable homicide, has been conclusively settled in this state by repeated adjudications. Mote a charge in this case which, though complained of in this respect, is held to meet all the requirements of the law.</p> <p>3. Evidence.—As a general rule, if no objection be made to evidence when offered, and no motion to exclude it from the jury be made, the admissibility of the evidence cannot be questioned in the motion for new trial, nor in this court on appeal.</p> <p>4. Same—Plight.—Evidence that the accused, after the commission of the homicide, made his escape and had to be brought back for trial, is competent for the state. The admissibility of such proof is not limited to cases of circumstantial evidence, as appears to have been held in Williams v. The State, 43 Texas, 182.</p> <p>6. Conflict of Evidence. — The preponderance of testimony is not necessarily dependent upon the relative numbers of the conflicting witnesses; and something more than such a numerical preponderance is necessary to warrant this court in setting aside a verdict found by a jury and approved by a judge whose opportunities to determine the credibility of the witnesses were better than those accessible to an appellate court.</p> <p>6. Self-defense. — The exercise of the right of self-defense must not exceed the bounds of mere defense and prevention; and the facts and circumstances must be such th