# Cruz v. State

> Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas · April 10, 1985 · 690 S.W.2d 246

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9682470

## Case

- **Full name:** Justin Seven CRUZ, Appellant, v. the STATE of Texas, Appellee
- **Court:** Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
- **Decided:** April 10, 1985
- **Citations:** 690 S.W.2d 246; 1985 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1553
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** On rehearing by Davis
- **Judges:** Davis, Campbell, White
- **Cited by:** 48 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9682470

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- recognizing that evidence linking a defendant to a crime scene “when coupled with other suspicious circumstances, including subsequent flight, may tend to connect the accused to the commission of the offense”
- holding appellant's presence on victim's property was insignificant because appellant lived on premises

## Opinion text

OPINION ON STATE’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
W.C. DAVIS, Judge.
The State contends that the evidence sufficiently corroborates the testimony of the accomplice witness, Richard Williams. Specifically, the State alleges that our original opinion is incorrect in holding that the evidence does not tend to connect appellant to the crime, and that our opinion is inaccurate in stating that the caliber of the murder weapons or bullets was not proved.
We agree that State’s Exhibit No. 8, the autopsy report, which was introduced into evidence, shows that Lansford died as a result of wounds caused by .22 caliber bullets. However, the correctness of our original opinion is not affected by proof of the caliber of the bullets. As set out in our original opinion, when the accomplice witness testimony is set aside, there is no evidence to connect appellant with the weapons or bullets used to kill Lansford— the .22 caliber weapons or bullets — and nothing to connect appellant to the murder. The corroborating evidence corroborated extraneous matters which did not link appellant to the offense.
The State’s motion for rehearing is de-, nied.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9682470. Public record. Not legal advice.