# Skelton v. State

> Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas · December 13, 1989 · 795 S.W.2d 162

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9862816

## Case

- **Full name:** John SKELTON, Appellant, v. the STATE of Texas, Appellee
- **Court:** Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
- **Decided:** December 13, 1989
- **Citations:** 795 S.W.2d 162; 1989 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 215; 1989 WL 149732
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Berchelmann
- **Judges:** McCormick, Berchelmann, Miller, White
- **Cited by:** 25 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/9862816

## Opinion text

BERCHELMANN, Judge,
dissenting.
I dissent. I believe the evidence sufficiently supports the jury’s verdict of guilt.
The standard of review for sufficiency claims is whether, viewed in the light most favorable to the judgment, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Butler v. State, 769 S.W.2d 234 (Tex.Cr.App.1989). This identical standard applies to sufficiency challenges involving circumstantial evidence cases. Id.
In the case at bar, appellant had the motive; indeed, the express intention, to kill the victim. Appellant acquired horse shoe magnets and dynamite — key ingredients to the bomb — shortly before the victim met his death. Appellant indicated something “spectacular” that would make the newspapers was going to happen. Appellant’s dubious claim that the dynamite was stolen from his truck, along with appellant’s bizarre series of phone calls to Robbie Smart and Carrie Scholl, also implicate *171 appellant. Furthermore, given that the jury received a “parties charge” in this case, I would find the evidence sufficient to exclude every other reasonable hypothesis other than appellant’s guilt. Willis v. State, 785 S.W.2d 378 (Tex.Cr.App.1989).
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9862816. Public record. Not legal advice.