Aguirre v. State

In Aguirre v. State, 732 S.W.2d 320 (Tex. Crim. App. 1987), the Court stated that the defendant testified at trial that on the day of the offense he had gone to his ex-wife's home to speak to her about leaving the children alone at night. When his ex-wife refused to let him into the house, the defendant went to his truck and retrieved his shotgun. He testified that he shot at the door in order to open it and did not consider the fact that someone could have been behind the door. Unbeknownst to the defendant, one of his children was standing behind the door and was killed by the blast fired from the defendant's shotgun. If indeed, the defendant was engaged in felonious criminal conduct, that is committing felony criminal mischief by attempting to blow open a door with a shotgun, this conduct was clearly a property offense. In the furtherance of this offense, the deceased was shot and killed. Unlike the situation in Garrett v. State, 573 S.W.2d 543 (Tex. Crim. App.1978), the defendant's act of criminal mischief and the deceased's resulting homicide were not one in the same. Aguirre, 732 S.W.2d at 325.