Edwards v. State

• Decision Date: 22 April 1914
• Docket Number: (No. 3063.)
• Citation: 166 S.W. 517
• Parties: EDWARDS v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

166 S.W. 517

EDWARDS v. STATE.

(No. 3063.)

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

April 22, 1914.

Appeal from District Court, Dickens County; Jo A. P. Dickson, Judge.

Earnest E. Edwards was convicted of bigamy, and appeals. Affirmed.

Woodruff, Christian & Woodruff, of Sweetwater, for appellant. C. E. Lane, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

HARPER, J.

Appellant was prosecuted and convicted of bigamy; his punishment being assessed at two years' confinement in the penitentiary.

In the first bill of exceptions it is shown that appellant moved to quash the indictment on the ground that Mrs. Nora Edwards, who was alleged to be the first wife of defendant, was permitted to testify before the grand jury. It has been so often held that the courts will not inquire into the character of testimony, nor the quantum of proof had before the grand jury, we do not deem it necessary to discuss this question. Morrison v. State, 41 Tex. 516; Dockery v. State, 35 Tex. Cr. R. 489, 34 S. W. 281; Chapman v. State, 49 S. W. 587; Buchanan v. State, 41 Tex. Cr. R. 127, 52 S. W. 769; Crain v. State, 14 Tex. 634; Terry v. State, 15 Tex. App. 66; Jacobs v. State, 35 Tex. Cr. R. 410, 34 S. W. 110; Kingsburg v. State, 37 Tex. Cr. R. 264, 39 S. W. 365; Choice v. State, 114 S. W. 137. In these cases, especially in the cases of Dockery and Buchanan, supra, the very question here presented is passed upon. That the indictment in this case was sufficient to charge the offense, and not subject to any of the objections urged by appellant, is shown by the decisions of this court in the following cases: Esser v. State, 66 S. W. 776; May v. State, 4 Tex. App. 424; Bryan v. State, 54 Tex. Cr. R. 19, 111 S. W. 744, 16 Ann. Cas. 515; Vinsant v. State, 42 Tex. Cr. R. 413, 60 S. W. 550; McAfee v. State, 38 Tex. Cr. R. 127, 41 S. W. 627. The insistence of appellant that these cases should be overruled cannot be sustained, for appellant by the indictment is sufficiently informed of the offense for which he must stand trial.

The next objection of appellant, as shown by bill of exceptions No. 2, is to the introduction of the marriage license, and return thereon, wherein it is shown that appellant on the 1st day of February, 1906, was married to Miss Nora Youngblood — his first wife. The license introduced in evidence was the original license, with the return thereon. It shows that appellant was married to Miss Youngblood on February 1, 1906, by G. W. Goin, M. G., and had been returned to the county clerk and duly recorded on the 16th day of February, 1906. It had been filed with the papers in the case, and appellant served with a copy thereof at the previous term of the court. The court did not err in admitting the original license and return thereon in evidence under the facts in this case, as it had been duly filed and recorded in the office of the county clerk in accordance with the provisions of law. In addition to this, this marriage of appellant was amply proven by a brother of his first wife, who witnessed the ceremony.

The state also introduced the marriage license and the return thereon showing that appellant was married to Miss Hattie Green on the 8th day of August, 1908; W. C. Ballard, county judge, performing the ceremony. Judge Ballard was dead at the time of this trial, but the county clerk and Misses Willie Ballard and Lois Jay testified to the issuance of the license, and the second marriage. Appellant then introduced his second wife, née Miss Hattie Green, who at his instance testified: "My name is Mrs. Earnest E. Edwards. This defendant, Earnest E. Edwards, is my husband. I will state that on or about the 8th day of August, 1908, in Dickens county, Tex., or at any other time, W. C. Ballard as county judge of Dickens county, Tex., did not perform a marriage ceremony between myself and my husband, Earnest E. Edwards." The state on cross-examination was permitted to elicit the following testimony from her: "Mr. Edwards and I have lived together as husband and wife since Saturday, this last Saturday. I have two children by Mr. Edwards. They are something over two years old. Both of them are living. I only have two by him, and they are both the same age; they are twins. There is no children dead. I think we were living in Ft. Worth when this first child was born; I do not remember the year. I only have two children, and they are twins. I think I was here in Dickens August 8, 1908, with Earnest E. Edwards, and I occupied the same room with him that night at the hotel; but we were not joined in marriage that night by Judge Ballard, but I did occupy the same room with him. I occupied the same room with him when I was not married because it suited me. I do not remember how long we lived together after that, nor do I remember the places. Mr. Edwards showed me some license that evening, I think the ones he got here for me and him to marry. Then I went with him to Judge Ballard's. He showed me some license for us to marry, and we went to Judge Ballard's, and he came out, but he did not perform the ceremony for me and him. It was performed last Saturday at Haskell, Tex. He did not use those marriage license I saw here at all. I did go with him over to Judge Ballard's, and went to get married, and the reason we did not get...