Spears v. State

Decision Date25 January 1888
Citation7 S.W. 245
PartiesSPEARS v. STATE.
CourtTexas Court of Appeals

Appeal from district court, Milam county; J. N. HENDERSON, Judge.

James Spears and certain others were indicted for cutting and destroying fences. The charging part of the indictment reads as follows: "* * * That Jade Parker, Bud Milam, Julius Thompson, Henry Jackson, Sam McLaughlin, Mat Milam, Jack Spears, and Jim Spears, late of the county of Milam, on the 30th day of March, in the year of our Lord 1887, with force and arms, in the county of Milam and state of Texas, did then and there wantonly and willfully, and without the consent of W. S. Carothers, the owner, and with intent to injure the said W. S. Carothers, cut, injure, and destroy a fence there situate, said fence being then the property of said W. S. Carothers, and not the property of said Jade Parker, Bud Milam, Julius Thompson, Henry Jackson, Sam McLaughlin, Mat Milam, Jack Spears, and Jim Spears, or either of them; and that the said Jade Parker, Bud Milam, Julius Thompson, Henry Jackson, Sam McLaughlin, Mat Milam, Jack Spears, and Jim Spears, nor either of them, did not then and there own or reside upon land inclosed by said fence; against the peace and dignity of the state." The penalty assessed against the appellant, who was alone upon trial, was a term of two years in the penitentiary. The disposition of this appeal, upon the questions involved, does not call for a statement of the facts proved.

E. L. Anthony, for appellant. Asst. Atty. Gen. Davidson, for the State.

WILLSON, J.

In instructing the jury in relation to the testimony of a state's witness, the court used the following language: "In contemplation of our law with reference to accomplice testimony, the court charges you that John Thomas, the witness introduced by the state, is an accomplice with the defendant," etc. This portion of the charge was excepted to by the defendant, and is presented for our revision by proper bill of exception. It is manifest that the court erred in giving such charge. It explicitly tells the jury that the witness Thomas is an accomplice with the defendant. This was equivalent to telling the jury that the defendant was criminally connected with the offense charged against him. Thomas, in his testimony, confessed his own guilt of the offense; that he was a principal in the commission of the offense. Therefore to instruct the jury that Thomas was an accomplice with the defendant was to instruct that the defendant was...

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7 cases
  • Driggers v. United States
    • United States
    • Oklahoma Supreme Court
    • 13 Mayo 1908
  • Driggers v. U.S.
    • United States
    • Oklahoma Supreme Court
    • 13 Mayo 1908
    ... ... lower court. 104 S.W. 1166. A petition for rehearing was ... filed, which was pending at the time Indian Territory was ... admitted as a state, and the case is in this court by virtue ... of the terms of the enabling act. On the consideration of the ... petition for rehearing this court ... charge with respect to matters of fact, which is not ... allowed.' People v. Sansome, 98 Cal. 235, 33 P ... 204. See, also, Spears v. State, 24 Tex.App. 537, 7 ... S.W. 245. If the plaintiff in error regarded the word ... 'accomplice' as a technical, legal one, requiring, at ... ...
  • Ford v. State, No. 07-07-0224-CR (Tex. App. 6/24/2008)
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • 24 Junio 2008
  • Dobbs v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
    • 6 Marzo 1907
    ...584; Maddox v. State, 12 Tex. App. 429; Walker v. State, 13 Tex. App. 618; Wyers v. State, 22 Tex. App. 258, 2 S. W. 722; Spears v. State, 24 Tex. App. 537, 7 S. W. 245; Parrish v. State, 45 Tex. 52; Walters v. State, 37 Tex. Cr. R. 388, 35 S. W. 652; Ayers v. State, 37 Tex. Cr. R. 1, 38 S.......
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