Rhodes v. State

Decided February 18, 1885

Court of Appeals of Texas · decided 1885-02-18

Tried below before the Hon. Gustave Cook. The indictment in this case charged the appellant and one Sam Wilson, jointly, with the murder of Mary Rhodes, the wife of the appellant, in Galveston county, Texas, on the 21st day of October, 1884. A severance was had, and Wilson was first placed on trial, and found not guilty. The appellant was then placed upon trial, found guilty of murder in the first degree, and was awarded the death penalty.

Decided 1885-02-18

Willson, Judge.

¶1After a careful examination and consideration of the record in this case, we find no error in the proceedings and conviction. A clear case of murder in the first degree is established by the evidence,— a deliberate, cruel, fiendish murder, perpetrated by the defendant upon his wife, by first shooting her with a pistol in the head, and then cutting her throat with a knife. There was *583no evidence in the case presenting the issue of murder in the second degree, and the court very properly declined to submit to the jury any other issue than that of murder in the first degree.

¶2The judgment is affirmed.

¶3Affirmed.

¶4[Opinion delivered February 18, 1885.]