Terry v. State
| Decision Date | 15 November 1893 |
| Citation | 24 S.W. 510 |
| Parties | TERRY v. STATE. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Appeal from district court, Gonzales county; T. H. Spooner, Judge.
Tom Terry was convicted for the theft of a horse, and appeals. Reversed.
Atkinson & Abernethy, for appellant. R. L. Henry, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
Conviction for theft of a horse. Judge T. H. Spooner, when this prosecution began, was district attorney for Gonzales and other counties comprising the twenty-first judicial district. Samuel Lester went before him for the purpose of making complaint that an offense had been committed. He made the complaint. The district attorney heard Lester's complaint. After hearing the complaint, the district attorney (Spooner) reduced the complaint to writing, caused the same to be signed and sworn to by Lester, and attested the same. This complaint charged appellant with the same offense — transaction — for which he has been tried and convicted in the district court of Gonzales county, Judge T. H. Spooner presiding. Upon the trial when the fact was shown that complaint had been made by Lester to District Attorney Spooner, and that he (Spooner) had reduced it to writing, and caused same to be signed and sworn to, and had attested same, and that the complaint was for the same offense as that on trial, counsel moved to withdraw the cause from the jury because Judge Spooner was disqualified to try the case. This motion was overruled, to which exceptions were reserved. "No judge shall sit in any case where he has been of counsel for the state or the accused." Code Crim. Proc. art. 569. Had Judge Spooner been of counsel for the state in this case? It is the official duty, as counsel for the state, for the district attorney, before reducing it to writing, to hear the complaint which is made. Hence, there must of necessity be a relation to him of some, at least, of the facts of the case. This is necessary in order that the complaint may contain a description of the offense complained of by the prosecutor; "and if the offense be a felony [this is a felony] he [the district attorney] shall forthwith file the complaint with a magistrate of the county, and cause the necessary process to be issued for the arrest of the accused." Code Crim. Proc. art, 36. Now, it is evident that the complaint made to the district attorney is the beginning of the prosecution; the next step is reducing it to writing, having it signed and sworn to, and attesting the same; the...
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Williams v. Pennsylvania
...parties but also for those who previously served as former attorneys general or district attorneys. See, e.g., Terry v. State, 24 S.W. 510, 510–511 (Tex.Crim.App.1893); Mathis, supra, at 128.This expansion was modest: disqualification was required only when the newly appointed judge had ser......
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Lee v. State
...in the preparation or investigation of the case when he was Assistant County Attorney, he would be counsel for the State. Terry v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 24 S.W. 510; Patterson v. State, 83 Tex.Cr.R. 169, 202 S.W. 88; and Koll v. State, 143 Tex.Cr.R. 104, 157 S.W.2d See also Carter v. State, T......
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Patterson v. State
...is the proper construction of the law. The exact point on similar facts was decided by this court in an opinion by Judge Hurt in Terry v. State, 24 S. W. 510, where the facts alleged were that the district attorney took the complaint, reduced it to writing, and caused it to be sworn to and ......
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Locklin v. State
...at the time the homicide was committed, he had nothing to do with the prosecution of said case." Nor is it like the case of Terry v. State, 24 S. W. 510. In that case, Judge Spooner, who had previously been district attorney, actually prosecuted the case against the defendant in the examini......