Bullard v. State

• Decision Date: 01 March 1899
• Citation: 50 S.W. 348
• Parties: BULLARD v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

50 S.W. 348

BULLARD v. STATE.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

March 1, 1899.

Appeal from district court, Ellis county; J. E. Dillard, Judge.

Tom Bullard was convicted of theft, and he appeals. Reformed.

A. A. Kemble, for appellant. Robt. A. John, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

BROOKS, J.

Appellant was tried and convicted of the theft of one horse, the property of J. A. Nesmith, and upon that conviction an ordinary judgment was rendered against appellant on the verdict of the jury, assessing his punishment at confinement in the penitentiary for a term of seven years. Upon that judgment the following sentence was rendered, to wit: "This day, this cause again being called, the state appeared by her county attorney, and the defendant, Tom Bullard, was brought into open court, in person, in charge of the sheriff, for the purpose of having the sentence of the law pronounced in accordance with the verdict and the judgment herein rendered and entered against him on a former day of this term. And thereupon the defendant, Tom Bullard, was asked by the court whether he had anything to say why said sentence should not be pronounced against him, and he answered nothing in bar thereof; and it appearing to the court that said Tom Bullard is now serving a term in the state penitentiary for the commission of some felony, whereupon the court proceeded in the presence of the said defendant, Tom Bullard, to pronounce sentence against him as follows: `It is ordered by the court that the defendant, Tom Bullard, who has been adjudged to be guilty of horse theft, and whose punishment has been assessed by the verdict of the jury at confinement in the penitentiary for seven years, be delivered by the sheriff of Ellis county, Texas, immediately to the superintendent of the penitentiary of the state of Texas, or other person legally authorized to receive such convicts, and the said Tom Bullard shall be confined in said penitentiary for seven years, in accordance with the provisions of the law governing the penitentiaries of said state. Said sentence to commence at the expiration of the term or terms for which he now is serving in said penitentiary. And the said Tom Bullard is remanded to jail until said sheriff can obey the directions of this sentence,'—to which sentence of the court, in so far as it makes the term of imprisonment to begin at the expiration of some other term or terms or at any future day, the defendant excepts, and in open court gives notice of appeal to the court of criminal appeals of Texas." Appellant excepted to that portion of the sentence which attempted to make the punishment of appellant cumulative, and his assignment of error in that regard is as follows: "The court erred in the sentence of Tom Bullard in that the sentence directs that his term of confinement in the penitentiary shall commence at the expiration of the term or terms for which he is now serving in said penitentiary." And in this connection appellant complains of the action of the court making the sentence cumulative, because there is no evidence introduced before the court authorizing a sentence to be made cumulative. From an inspection of the facts as contained in the...