Pigg v. State, 28114
| Decision Date | 07 March 1956 |
| Docket Number | No. 28114,28114 |
| Citation | 287 S.W.2d 673,162 Tex.Crim. 521 |
| Parties | Gordon Wayne PIGG, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
George F. Edwardes, William Wiggins, Texarkana, for appellant.
Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The offense is felony theft; the punishment, 2 years.
A practically new 1955 Mercury automobile was taken from the home of its owner on the night charged in the indictment and recovered by the city marshall the following morning where it had been abandoned on a dirt road some three miles away. The radio and sun visors were gone, and in the words of the injured party, 'anything that could be taken off was taken off.'
One Martin testified for the State that he had the appellant pushed the Mercury automobile away from the home of the owner with the automobile that he was driving on that occasion but that when they tried to wire around the switch they were unable to do so and could not get the motor started and that thereafter they stripped the automobile of its radio and other accessories. Martin stated that he and the appellant left town the following day and that he did not see the appellant for some time thereafter.
Appellant's confession which corroborated Martin's testimony was introduced in evidence.
The appellant, testifying in his own behalf, plead alibi and stated that when he made the confession to the district attorney he was talking about a 1953 Mercury in which he and Martin had left town the following day.
Appellant's parents and their employees supported the plea of alibi. The jury resolved the conflict in the evidence, and we find the evidence sufficient to support the conviction.
The evidence will be more fully discussed in connection with the bills of exception.
Bill of Exception No. 1 complains of the failure of the court to grant a mistrial when one of the jurors who had been sworn to try the case and after the injured party had testified told the court, with the consent of counsel, that he had casually known the injured party for several years, 'that he only knew him when he saw him,' and that he had not disclosed such fact on voir dire examination because his poor eyesight had kept him from recognizing the injured party.
It will be observed that the injured party had merely testified to the theft of the automobile and its subsequent recovery and had testified to no fact which would implicate the appellant.
We have concluded that the fact that the juror knew the witness 'only when he saw him' would not affect his verdict and was not grounds for a mistrial. In many rural districts the jury frequently...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Hankins v. State
...508, 215 S.W.2d 344 (Tex.Cr.App.1949); Pierce v. State, 159 Tex.Cr.R. 504, 265 S.W.2d 601 (Tex.Cr.App.1954); Pigg v. State, 162 Tex.Cr.R. 521, 287 S.W.2d 673 (Tex.Cr.App.1956). Cf. Whitson v. State, 495 S.W.2d 944 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). Thus in Texas only a nondefinitional charge on "reasonable......
-
Marquez v. State
...508, 215 S.W.2d 344 (Tex.Cr.App.1948); Pierce v. State, 159 Tex.Cr.R. 504, 265 S.W.2d 601 (Tex.Cr.App.1954); Pigg v. State, 162 Tex.Cr.R. 521, 287 S.W.2d 673 (Tex.Cr.App.1956). Cf. Whitson v. State, 495 S.W.2d 944 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). Accordingly, appellant's twenty-third and twenty-fourth gr......
-
Chambers v. State, 54676
...any of the following reasons: " * * * "8. That he has a bias or prejudice in favor of or against the defendant." In Pigg v. State, 162 Tex.Cr.R. 521, 287 S.W.2d 673 (1956), a juror knew the injured party "only when he saw him." We held that such a relationship would not affect the juror's v......
-
Reister v. State
...offered testimony from an employee of the Stampede that he had not seen Appellant in the club on May 17. 6. See Pigg v. State, 162 Tex.Crim. 521, 287 S.W.2d 673, 675. ...