Williams v. State

• Decision Date: 26 January 1910
• Parties: WILLIAMS v. STATE.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

124 S.W. 954

WILLIAMS v. STATE.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

January 26, 1910.

Appeal from District Court, Bosque County; O. L. Lockett, Judge.

C. P. Williams was convicted of passing a forged instrument, and appeals. Affirmed.

John A. Mobley, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

McCORD, J.

This is an appeal from a conviction for passing as true a forged instrument, the punishment being assessed at two years in the penitentiary.

The indictment contained but one count. The facts show that Mrs. M. L. Reeder lived in Bosque county, at a town called Clifton, and that the appellant, C. P. Williams, secured a check from her for $5. For what purpose the record does not disclose, but on July 31, 1909, she gave to appellant, on the Clifton State Bank, and payable to the order of appellant, a check for $5. This check was raised from $5 to $25, and was changed so as to read "payable to the order of C. R. Williamson." This check was transferred to Jodie Grimland, who was in the drug business in the town of Clifton, by the defendant, and he (defendant) indorsed the check at the time, and claimed that Mrs. Reeder had given it to him, and he (Grimland) afterwards presented the check to the bank. At the time the witness bought this check from Williams, he paid Williams $10 in money and gave him a check for $11.60, and credited Williams' account at the drug store for $3.40, making $25. Appellant claimed on the trial of the case that he had purchased this check for $25 from a man who gave his name as Williamson; that he traded him a gun and some other things, and gave him $5 in addition, for the check; that he had never seen that man before or since.

The court gave a very full charge, and at the request of appellant gave the following: "You are instructed by the court that, even though you find that the $25 check offered in evidence was a forgery, still you cannot convict defendant for passing it, unless you find that he forged it, or knew at the time he passed it that it was a forgery; and if you have a reasonable doubt of these facts you should find defendant not guilty, even though you believe that he did pass it." In the main charge the court charged the jury that if the jury found or believed, or had a reasonable doubt whether, defendant bought said check from one C. R. Williamson, and afterwards passed the same to Jodie Grimland, and that at the time he passed the same said check or written instrument was forged, as above defined, or that he did not pass the same with the intent to injure or defraud, they would acquit the defendant.

Appellant filed a motion for new trial on the ground that the verdict was contrary to the law and the evidence; that the trial court erred in the second paragraph of his charge to the jury, in that the court charged that the written instrument must be such an...