## Facts

- Kenneth Dee Stogsdill was indicted for capital murder, alleged to have intentionally killed Billy Ed Price while in the course of committing or attempting to commit robbery.
- Price was last seen alive on April 14, 1975, after being left at the Continental Bus Station in Dallas; testimony indicated he had more than $100 with him.
- On April 15, 1975, workers found a nude body beneath a wooden bridge near Burkburnett, Texas; the body had been beaten, stabbed, and sexually mutilated and was later identified as Price.
- The State’s proof at trial was wholly circumstantial.
- Price’s clothing and personal effects were found near the crime scene, but the prosecution did not connect those items to Stogsdill through possession, fingerprints, eyewitness testimony, or other direct proof.
- The State presented testimony that tire tracks at or near the scene were similar to the tread pattern of tires on Stogsdill’s truck, but it did not establish that the tracks were made by his specific vehicle.
- The State presented hair-comparison testimony that hairs recovered from Stogsdill’s truck were similar to Price’s hair, but the evidence did not positively identify the hairs as Price’s.
- The State also offered extraneous-misconduct evidence through two witnesses who described prior encounters in which Stogsdill had been violent or had threatened mutilation, including testimony about an earlier assault on Steven Laney.
- No witness placed Stogsdill with Price, at the bridge area, or in possession of Price’s money or property at any time.
- A jury convicted Stogsdill of capital murder and assessed the death penalty; he appealed, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence.

## Issues

1. Whether the circumstantial evidence was legally sufficient to support a capital murder conviction under the rule requiring such evidence to exclude every reasonable hypothesis other than guilt.

## Decision

- The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held the evidence was legally insufficient to sustain the conviction.
- The court reversed the capital murder conviction and remanded the cause.
- The court concluded that the State’s proof—similar tire tracks, similar hair, nearby discovery of the victim’s belongings, and extraneous-misconduct testimony—amounted at most to suspicion or probability and did not exclude other reasonable hypotheses consistent with innocence.

## Legal Principles

- When the State’s case is entirely circumstantial, the evidence must be consistent with guilt and must exclude every reasonable hypothesis other than the defendant’s guilt.
- Proof that physical characteristics are merely “similar” (such as tire-tread comparisons or hair comparisons) has limited value unless the State shows a reliable, case-specific link tying the defendant to the scene or the victim.
- Evidence of other misconduct may be relevant to issues such as identity or intent, but it cannot replace proof connecting the accused to the charged offense.
- A conviction cannot stand where the record lacks evidence placing the defendant with the victim, at the scene, or in possession of the victim’s property, and the remaining circumstances do not close the gap beyond a reasonable doubt.

## Conclusion

Because the State relied only on circumstantial proof that did not place Stogsdill with Price, at the bridge, or in possession of Price’s belongings, and because the tire-track and hair evidence showed only similarity rather than a definite match, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the evidence did not exclude reasonable hypotheses of innocence and reversed the death-penalty capital murder conviction.


Stogsdill v. State, 552 S.W.2d 481 (1977)