Parrish v. State, 30455

• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
• Writing for the Court: MORRISON
• Citation: Parrish v. State, 167 Tex.Crim. 404, 320 S.W.2d 853 (Tex. Crim. App. 1959)
• Decision Date: 18 February 1959
• Docket Number: No. 30455,30455
• Parties: Charles L. PARRISH, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Texas, Appellee.

Page 853

320 S.W.2d 853

167 Tex.Crim. 404

Charles L. PARRISH, Jr., Appellant, v. STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 30455.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

Feb. 18, 1959.

[167 TEXCRIM 404] No attorney on appeal for appellant.

Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

MORRISON, Presiding Judge.

The offense is bigamy, as denounced by Article 490a, Vernon's Ann.P.C., in that the bigamous marriage was alleged to have occurred without the state and parties later cohabited together within this state; the punishment, two years.

Mrs. Frieda Norton, a resident of Toledo, Ohio, testified that she was present in the State of Ohio on September 17, 1955, and that she and her husband witnessed a marriage which was consummated between the appellant and one Mildred Peete. She identified her own and her husband's signature on the marriage certificate which was introduced in evidence and stated that she [167 TEXCRIM 405] visited Mildred and the appellant upon occasions during the following year while they were living together, and had come to Texas with Mildred in order to testify at the trial.

Mildred Peete testified, without objection, that she met the appellant in Toledo, Ohio, in 1955, married him before a justice of the peace on September 17, 1955, with Mrs. Norton and her husband as witnesses, and lived with the appellant as his wife until September, 1956, at which time he deserted her, and that she did not see him again until the day of the trial. She stated that she obtained a divorce from the appellant on October 25, 1957.

The application for the marriage license, the license itself, and the certificate evidencing the solemnization of the marriage were introduced in evidence.

May Hammond, a resident of Borger, Texas, testified that she had known the appellant for several years and that they had discussed marriage prior to his departure from Borger, that she did not see him for approximately a year until shortly before November 10, 1956, when he returned to Borger and again spoke of matrimony. She stated that on that day she and the appellant were united in marriage at Clayton, New Mexico, by a lady justice of the peace, and that following this marriage she resided with the appellant as his wife in Hutchinson County, Texas, until the day of his arrest, after which she received an annulment of the New Mexico marriage.

Justice of the Peace Clara Harvey, of Clayton, New Mexico, testified that she identified May Hammond as one of the parties...