Hart v. State

• Decision Date: 01 January 1873
• Citation: Hart v. State, 38 Tex. 382 (Tex. 1873)
• Parties: LEWIS HART v. THE STATE OF TEXAS.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

38 Tex. 382

LEWIS HART

v.THE STATE OF TEXAS.

Supreme Court of Texas.

1873.

1. Defendant was indicted for an assault upon one Persons; held, the omission to add the final letter to the name of Persons not such a change in the name as would vitiate the indictment.

2. A verdict of guilty of assault with “attempt to murder,” on an indictment for assault with intent to murder, is sufficiently definite to render judgment upon.

APPEAL from Caldwell. Tried below before the Hon. Henry Maney.

The facts appear in the opinion.

Nix & Story, and James H. Burts, for appellant.

Attorney General, for the state.

OGDEN, J.

The appellant in this case was indicted for an assault upon one Rolan Persons, with “intent to kill and murder the said Rolan Person.” We think the omission to add the final letter to the name of Persons in the closing part of the indictment not such a change in the name as would vitiate the indictment; particularly as the name was frequently used and correctly spelled in the former part of the indictment, and then, finally, the party assaulted was referred to as “the said Rolan Person.” There can be no doubt, from the language of the indictment, that the person charged to have been assaulted is identical with the one the defendant is accused of intending to murder, and the clerical omission of the final letter in this case in nowise decreases the certainty of the indictment.

Neither is the objection to the verdict of the jury well taken. It can hardly be expected that the verdict of juries will always be in precise conformity with the letter of the law, nor in the technical language of the books; and therefore, if the verdict of a jury is entirely responsive to the charge in the indictment and the law, and is clear and intelligible, it is sufficient, though a different word may have been substituted in the verdict for one in the charge or the law, provided that substituted...