Dowden v. State
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
758 S.W.2d 264 (1988)
Dowden (defendant) brought a rifle and pistol to a police station to help his brother, who was in custody, escape. He burst in, pointed his gun at officers, and demanded his brother's release; Captain Gray grabbed him and forced him into a hallway, and the door closed. Officers Windham and Denton, unable to see what was happening, heard a shot and assumed Dowden had killed Gray; they exchanged gunfire with Dowden, and when the door flew open after another shot, Windham fired three times without looking, assuming it had to be Dowden. The person in the doorway turned out to be Captain Gray, and ballistics confirmed Windham's own shots killed Gray. Dowden confessed to starting the gunfire. He was convicted of capital murder despite the undisputed fact that a fellow officer's bullet caused the death, and he appealed, arguing the evidence required a directed acquittal.
Whether a defendant who intentionally commits acts likely to kill can be convicted of murder even when the evidence shows the victim was actually killed by someone else.