Arcia v. State
| Decision Date | 24 October 1888 |
| Citation | 9 S.W. 685 |
| Parties | ARCIA v. STATE. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Appeal from district court, Webb county; J. C. RUSSELL, Judge.
Martiriano Arcia being convicted of receiving stolen property knowing it to be stolen prosecutes this appeal.
Coapwood & Son, for appellant. Asst. Atty. Gen. Davidson, for the State.
When the witness Renteria was placed upon the stand by the state defendant objected to his testifying upon the ground that he was a convicted felon, and was, therefore, an incompetent witness. In support of the objection, defendant proved that said witness had been tried for, and found guilty of, felonious theft, and also of burglary, and by proper judgments of the court had been adjudged guilty of said felonies. It furthermore appeared, however, that sentence had not been pronounced against him upon either judgment at the time he was offered as a witness, and the trial court, therefore, overruled the defendant's objection to the competency of said witness, and permitted him to testify. This ruling of the court was excepted to, and is insisted upon as error by the defendant's counsel.
A conviction of a felony, unless such conviction has been legally set aside, or unless the convict has been legally pardoned, renders such convict incompetent to testify as a witness. Code Crim. Proc. art. 730. But the question here presented is, had the witness, at the time he was offered as such, been convicted of felony, within the meaning of our Code, sentence not then having been pronounced against him. In the absence of any statutory provisions affecting this question, we would hold, in accordance with what seems to be the well-settled rule, that a verdict followed by a judgment renders the conviction complete, and the disqualification at once attaches; but in no case attaches until judgment has been rendered upon the verdict. Desty, Crim. Law, § 49b, note 11; Whart. Crim. Ev. § 398, note 6. There are, however, some peculiar provisions in our Code which, we think, require more than a verdict and judgment to be shown in order to establish a forfeiture of civil rights. Under our Code, in all felony cases, a sentence must follow the judgment. This sentence is distinct from, and independent of, the judgment, and is in fact the final judgment in the cause. It must be pronounced and entered in all felony cases except in a capital case where the death penalty is assessed, before an appeal can be prosecuted. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 791-794. It is the sentence, therefore, and not the judgment, which under our Code concludes the prosecution in the trial court, and until it has been pronounced it cannot be said that the conviction in the trial court is complete, so as to work a forfeiture of civil...
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Snodgrass v. State
...no right to pardon until the court has pronounced sentence. As authority for this contention, we are cited to the case of Arcia v. State, 26 Tex. App. 193, 9 S. W. 685, and the cases since that time following that decision. Now, what is it the court holds in the Arcia Case? That the questio......
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Burnett v. State
...conviction, final judgment, and that one is not disqualified who has not been sentenced. Flournoy v. State, 59 S. W. 903; Arcia v. State, 26 Tex. App. 193, 9 S. W. 685; Jones v. State, 32 Tex. Cr. R. 135, 22 S. W. 404; Robinson v. State, 36 Tex. Cr. R. 104, 35 S. W. 651; Foster v. State, 39......
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Shaw v. State
...had been pronounced, was not an incompetent witness for the state under the construction given the statute by this court. Arcia v. State, 26 Tex. App. 205, 9 S. W. 685; Rose's "Notes on Texas Reports," vol. 5, p. From the evidence it appears that the appellant agreed to aid in the manufactu......
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Ex parte Laday
...punishment. Woods v. State, 532 S.W.2d 608 (Tex.Crim.App.1976); Faurie v. State, 528 S.W.2d 263 (Tex.Crim.App.1975). In Arcia v. State, 26 Tex.App. 193, 9 S.W. 685 (1888), the former Court of Appeals held that for purposes of determining the competency of a witness a "conviction" required t......