Guyton v. State, 44087
Decision Date | 16 September 1971 |
Docket Number | No. 44087,44087 |
Citation | 472 S.W.2d 130 |
Parties | Charles William GUYTON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
James Martin, Dallas, for appellant.
Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., John B. Tolle, Harry J. Schulz, Jr., W. T. Westmoreland, Jr., Edgar A. Mason, Robert T. Baskett and James S. Moss, Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, and Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
This is an appeal from a conviction for forgery, where the punishment, enhanced under the provisions of Article 63, Vernon's Ann.P.C., was assessed at life.
The indictment was presented on November 1, 1965, alleging that the primary offense had occurred 'on or about' June 4, 1965. The trial commenced March 22, 1966. Judgment was entered the following day. The motion and amended motion for new trial were overruled by operation of law. For reasons unexplained, sentence was not pronounced until February 26, 1970. The record reached this court on March 26, 1971, over five years after the trial of this cause. The appellant, in view of the penalty, is not entitled to bail pending appeal and has remained in confinement.
The sole question presented on appeal is whether the trial judge fundamentally erred in failing to submit to the jury the issue of insanity As a defense, despite the lack of an objection or requested special charge.
There was no medical testimony offered during the trial on the merits, and nothing in the State's evidence served to raise the issue.
Frank Lott, an alibi witness for the defense and a sometime employer of the appellant, testified the appellant 'was kind of nervous like, and so we, Daddy and I, had been working on him to get him to start going to church.' He further related that his experience with the appellant did not give him any basis for believing the appellant was of unsound mind.
Ida Jean Webb, the appellant's daughter, testified he was under a 'Guardianship, Texas Bank and Trust' 'as a veteran' 'as far as I know.' She could not give any specific acts of abnormal behavior on the part of her father, but stated he had been in a veterans' hospital in Waco, which was 'supposed to be for crazy people' although she did not know how long he stayed there. She related that every time she had seen her father he had 'acted allright' and 'like he knows what he was doing.'
Appellant's landlady, Gerthie Lee Tucker, did testify the appellant was not normal and was mentally sick. When asked to explain she replied, She mentioned appellant's guardianship, but when asked if she thought appellant knew the difference between right and wrong, she answered affirmatively.
Appellant testified in his own behalf. He related that he was forgetful, stating that '(s)ometimes I go to light a cigarette and get my matches and stick it to my mouth and there wouldn't even be a cigarette in my mouth.' He revealed that on occasion he would forget to lock the front door of his apartment or leave the keys in the door or fail to latch the window screen.
When asked about his guardianship the 50 year old appellant replied, 'My mother turned it over to them and put it in the Texas Bank and Trust, guardian over my money, because she said I was the type of person that wasn't, she carried it through probated court here, and I've been to Waco three times for treatments' 'once for loss of memory and once for hearing voices and music in the walls.'
On cross-examination he testified he was aware of the difference between right and wrong and knew it was wrong to forge instruments or steal property. He specifically testified he remembered the day of the alleged offense and revealed that he spent the day at his employer's house working on a fence. He recalled the date of his discharge from the military service, his prior convictions for forgery alleged for enhancement as well as other prior convictions, and related he was aware when he testified his prior convictions would be used against him for the purpose of impeachment.
No documents relating to the guardianship were offered into evidence.
In Fuller v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 423 S.W.2d 924, 925, this court said:
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...for error multiply rapidly as time elapses between the original fact and its judicial determination.11 See, e. g., Guyton v. State, 472 S.W.2d 130 (Tex.Cr.App. 1971) (record did not reach the appellate court until over 5 years after trial, and appellant was ineligible for bail, having recei......
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Hoffman v. State, 48353
...objections to the court's charge and failed to do either. Therefore, any error in the charge of the court is waived. Guyton v. State, 472 S.W.2d 130 (Tex.Cr.App. 1971); Smith v. State, 455 S.W.2d 748 (Tex.Cr.App. The judgment is affirmed. 1 Compare Ellingsworth v. State, 487 S.W.2d 108 (Tex......
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...appellate process and a growing threat to the effective administration of justice.' The judgment is affirmed. 1 In Guyton v. State, 472 S.W.2d 130 (Tex.Cr.App.1971), the appellate record did not reach the appellate court until over 5 years after the trial. Guyton was ineligible for bail, ha......
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Hart v. State, 51510
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