[DOWNLOAD] "Jerry Joe Bird v. State Texas" by Fifth District, Dallas Court of Appeals of Texas * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Jerry Joe Bird v. State Texas
- Author : Fifth District, Dallas Court of Appeals of Texas
- Release Date : January 08, 1975
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 57 KB
Description
The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged. It is not necessary to detail all facts. Jo Ellen Trammell, wife of the deceased, Vic Trammell, a gun collector, testified that on the evening of January 11, 1974, the appellant Bird and his companion, Korges, appeared at the Trammell house and said they had guns to sell. Trammell said he did not desire to purchase any guns but would look at the same. At this point, Bird pulled a pistol with a silencer attached. Subsequently, he gave the weapon to Korges. The Trammells were placed in different rooms, handcuffed, and their feet and eyes were taped. Later, Mrs. Trammell heard shots from the other room and a groan. She slipped one hand out of the handcuffs, untaped herself, and crawled out a window and hid in a drainage ditch. After some time elapsed, she smelled smoke, but did not leave her hiding place until she heard fire engines approaching. The Trammell house was on fire. After the fire was extinguished, Vic Trammells body, badly burned, was found inside the house. Among other things, his very valuable gun collection was missing. The doctor who performed the autopsy was unable to say whether Trammells death was due to the two bullet wounds in his body or resulted from the fire, but theorized that he had been shot first and that such wounds would have been fatal. At the scene a pistol with a silencer was found. The appellant did not testify, but called Kenneth Ross, Special Agent for the United States Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, who related he had traced the pistol to a gun dealer in Lake Charles, Louisiana, whose records of dates and disposition had been stolen. On cross-examination he expressed the opinion that the silencer was crudely made, perhaps in a machine shop, and was not commercially made.