Cobbins v. State

423 S.W.2d 589, 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1026

Opinions

OPINION

WOODLEY, Presiding Judge.

The offense is rape; the punishment, life.

Three grounds of error are set forth in appellant’s brief. Ground 1 complains that the charge to the jury at the hearing on punishment is fundamentally defective in that it authorizes the jury to find that appellant had been previously convicted of a felony.

The state did not seek the death penalty. Appellant filed application for probation and elected to have the jury assess the punishment.

The charge attacked is that portion which referred to the application for probation and instructed the jury as to the necessity of finding, in their verdict, if they desired to recommend probation, “that the defendant has never before been convicted of a felony in this or any other state.”

The charge was in strict accordance with Art. 42.12, Sec. 3a, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P., in effect at the time of the trial, and the above quoted language appears both in the statute and in the charge.

The ground of error is overruled.

The second ground of error is: “The indictment is fundamentally defective in that, the prosecutrix being age 14 years at the time of the alleged act, it fails to allege that the prosecutrix is not the wife of the defendant.”

The indictment alleging rape by force and threats, ground of error No. 2 is without merit. Lee v. State, 169 Tex.Cr. R. 300, 334 S.W.2d 289.

Ground of error No. 3 complains that: “The admission of in-court identification of the accused, without first determining that such identification was not tainted by an illegal lineup but was of independent origin, violated appellant’s rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.”

No authorities are cited and no argument is advanced in support of this ground of error. If reliance be on United States v. Wade, 388 U.S. 218, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149, and Gilbert v. State of California, 388 U.S. 263, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 18 L.Ed.2d 1178, which we conclude have no application under the facts before us, see Stovall v. Denno, 388 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 1967, 18 L.Ed.2d 1199. Ground of error No. 3 is overruled.

The judgment is affirmed.