Jones v. State

Citations

• 4 Tex. Ct. App. 436

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence or Motive. — The ruling in Dill v. The State, 1 Texas Ct. App. 278, cited and approved, to the effect that when the corpus delicti has been proved, and the circumstances indicate the accused as the perpetrator, facts tending, though remotely, to show a motive are admissible in evidence against him; but the jury should exercise great caution in attaching importance to this species of proof.</p> <p>2. Same — Case Stated. — The worshipful master of a colored Masonic lodge being on trial for murder, there was evidence tending to inculpate him and several other members of the lodge, and expert testimony tending to show that a manuscript pinned to the corpse was in his handwriting. Held, in view of such evidence, it was not error to allow the State to prove that, three or four months prior to the murder, the accused, in soliciting the witness to join the lodge, assured him it was a good thing, because any one who injured a member of it would pass away and be no more heard of.</p> <p>3. New Trial. — Though it is always with great hesitancy that an appellate court disturbs a verdict supported by any evidence, yet, when the issue involves life, the conviction will be set aside if the court cannot conscientiously concur in the sufficiency of the evidence on which it was based.</p>