Leonard Wilson Freeman, Appellant v. the State of Texas, Appellee

Summary

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Leonard Wilson Freeman's capital murder conviction and death sentence, holding that the trial court did not err in overruling challenges for cause of jurors with prior knowledge, denying a change of venue despite pretrial publicity, excluding jurors opposed to the death penalty under Witherspoon, and admitting the defendant's written confession as voluntary. The Court found the jurors capable of setting aside prior impressions, that publicity alone did not require a new venue, that the Witherspoon standard justified the exclusions, and that the confession was given after proper Miranda warnings. A dissent argued that the exclusion of prospective juror Southern violated Witherspoon.