Burns v. State

78 S.W.2d 956, 127 Tex. Crim. 599, 1935 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 43
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 30, 1935
DocketNo. 17214
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 78 S.W.2d 956 (Burns v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burns v. State, 78 S.W.2d 956, 127 Tex. Crim. 599, 1935 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 43 (Tex. 1935).

Opinion

KRUEGER, Judge.

The appellant was tried and convicted of the offense of robbery by assault and his punishment was assessed at confinement in the penitentiary for a term of ten years.

The testimony adduced by the State shows that on the morning of April 27th, A. D. 1934, Mrs. Edwina Berg went from Longview, Texas, to Shreveport, La., where she purchased a quantity of whisky for the purpose of transporting it to Longview and selling it. After she had passed through the town of Marshall on her return trip, the appellant, Joe Bushiey and Ben Musick overtook her and robbed her, by the use of violence and firearms, of a quantity of whisky and approximately $200 in money.

The appellant testified in his own behalf that he, Joe Bushiey and Ben Musick left Dallas that morning about 8:30 or 9 o’clock with the intent of robbing Mrs. Berg of whisky. He testified as follows: “We drove up beside of her and she stopped. We didn’t have a gun. She stopped the car because we told her to stop. I asked her what she had in there and she didn’t say anything. I asked her again and she said, T know what you want.’ I saw the gun in her hand and Joe Bushiey grabbed the gun out of her hand. I did not do a thing then but ask her for the key, to pull the car off the road and get the stuff. She told us to unload right there; we told her we didn’t want to because there was so much traffic. We took her down a side road into the woods. I went in the car with Mrs. Berg- and Joe Bushiey was standing on the running board of the car. When we unloaded the car we put the whisky into our car. There were 9 cases of liquor. Then we went back to Dallas where We turned the whisky into money. I did not get any of her money. None of us did. We didn’t see any money. I never had that black pocket book in my hand and never [602]*602opened it. None of the boys got that pocket book. She threw the pocket book in her own automobile; that was before we went down the road. When we stopped her on the road we did not intend to take any of her money. We did take the whisky.”

By bill of exception No. 1 the appellant complains of the action of the trial court in permitting the district attorney on cross-examination of the appellant to elicit the fact that he (appellant), had been convicted of burglary seven years ago and was sent to the penitentiary. We think this testimony was admissible as affecting the credibility of the appellant as a witness.

By bills of exception 3, 4 and 6 the appellant complains of the action of the trial court in not permitting him to elicit from the prosecuting witness, Mrs. Berg, that she had a colored boy who sold whisky by the pint and quart for her and to further prove specific instances of the sale of liquor by her for the purpose of affecting her credibility as a witness. Isolated acts could not be resorted to for that purpose unless such acts culminated in an indictment. See Ware v. State, 36 Texas Crim. Rep., 597; Jenkins v. State, 45 Texas Crim. Rep., 173; Preston v. State, 41 Texas Crim. Rep., 300.

By bills of exception 7 and 8 the appellant complains of the action of the trial court in declining to sustain his plea to the jurisdiction of the court on the ground that appellant, after he had been indicted by the grand jury of Harrison County of the offense of robbery, sued out a writ of habeas corpus before the district judge of said county, who, upon a hearing thereof, fixed the amount of appellant’s bail at the sum of $10,000 and remanded him to the custody of the sheriff of Harrison County until he should have entered into a good and sufficient bail bond in said sum in a manner and form prescribed by law; that from said order of the court he appealed to the Court of Criminal Appeals of the State of Texas seeking a reduction of the amount of bail; that the Court of Criminal Appeals had not acted upon said case and therefore the district court of Harrison County was without jurisdiction to try this case on its merits. This same question has been before this court in the case of Guy Mitchell v. State, *No. 16,516, delivered March 28, 1934, opinion not yet reported, in which this court held adversely to the appellant’s contention.

By bill of exception No. 9 the appellant complains of the action of the trial court in declining to peremptorily instruct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. From the record [603]*603before us we have concluded that the testimony in this case would not justify such an instruction.

By bill of exception No. 10 the appellant complains of the action of the trial court in declining to submit to the jury his requested special instruction No. 9, which reads as follows: “You are instructed that the defendant is not on trial for taking the whisky and gin from the prosecuting witness, Mrs. Berg, and you can not convict the defendant in this case for taking said liquor.” We are of the opinion that the court did not commit any error in declining to give said requested special instruction, inasmuch as the court, in paragraph 6 of his main charge, had instructed the jury as follows: “You are further charged as a part of the law in this case that if you believe from the evidence that defendant and Joe Bushiey and Ben Musick, or either of them, took from the witness Mrs. Berg on the date alleged in the bill of indictment an amount of whisky, but if you do not believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant or either of the other parties named above took the property described in the bill of indictment, then you will find the defendant not guilty.” This charge of the court specifically instructed the jury that if the appellant and Joe Bushiey and Ben Musick, or either of them, took from the witness Edwina Berg an amount of whiskey they could not convict the appellant unless they believed from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that he or either of the other parties named took the property described in the indictment. The only property described in the indictment was the money. The charge clearly confined and limited the jury in considering the property taken to the money alone, and the appellant’s guilt is made to depend entirely upon the taking of the money.

By bill of exception No. 11 the appellant complains of the action of the trial court in declining to submit to the jury his requested special instruction No. 10, which is to the effect that if Mrs. Edwina Berg on the occasion in question lost $200 in money but they had a reasonable doubt as to whether $200 was actually lost out of said purse, or whether the defendant, Joe Bushiey or Ben Musick, or either of them, got same, then to give to the defendant the benefit of the doubt and acquit him. We do not believe that the court committed any error in declining to give said requested special instruction, inasmuch as the court had already submitted to the jury the defendant’s special instruction No. 4, which reads as follows: “You are instructed that if Mrs. Edwina Berg had $200 in money in her purse and the same was lost by her on the occasion involved [604]*604herein, but the defendant, Joe Bushiey and Ben Musick did not get said $200, or if you have a reasonable doubt thereof, you will acquit the defendant.”

By bill of exception No. 12 the appellant complains of the action of the trial court in declining to submit to the jury his requested special charge No. 11, which reads as follows: “You are instructed that if defendants Bushiey and Musick intended to take the liquor from the prosecuting witness, Mrs. Berg, but did not intend to take any money, and after Mrs.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Taylor v. State
288 S.W.2d 516 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1956)
Bushiey v. State
79 S.W.2d 124 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1935)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
78 S.W.2d 956, 127 Tex. Crim. 599, 1935 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 43, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burns-v-state-texcrimapp-1935.