Crane v. State

240 S.W. 920, 91 Tex. Crim. 304, 1922 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 176
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 22, 1922
DocketNo. 6770.
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 240 S.W. 920 (Crane 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
Crane v. State, 240 S.W. 920, 91 Tex. Crim. 304, 1922 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 176 (Tex. 1922).

Opinions

HAWKINS, Judge.

—Conviction is for burglary. Punishment two years in penitentiary.

A number of special charges were requested. There is no recital in, or endorsement on, any of the charges which show they were presented to the trial judge before his main charge was read to the *306 jury. The same condition exists with reference to the bills of exception bringing forward the requested charges. In this condition they cannot be considered. Article 737, Vernon’s C. C. P., Note 11, page 493, for authorities. In some way it must be made to appear from the record that special charges were timely presented. Salter v. State, 78 Texas Crim. Rep. 325; Castleberry v. State, 88 Texas Crim. Rep. 502, 228 S. W. Rep. 216; No. 6709, Clark v. State (opinion January 25, 1922).

Appellant requested time to prepare an application for continuance on account of the absence of Arthur Burke. Inspection of the indictment reveals that Arthur Burke and appellant were jointly indicted for burglary. The court refused to grant appellant time to prepare application for continuance on the ground,, as shown in the qualification to his bill, that the testimony of said Burke would not be available for appellant even if his co-defendant was present. The court committed no error in declining to delay the trial under the circumstances. Article 791, Vernon’s C. C. P.

When appellant's case was called for trial he filed an affidavit asking that his co-defendant Burke be first placed upon trial. The motion was overruled. The bill is explained as follows: “The defendant Burke was under bail bond to appear before this court for trial but has failed to appear—had not in any manner signified his assent as to the order in which he and his co-defendant Crane were to be tried—the Court granted the severance—but the placing of the defendant Burke on trial first would of necessity continue the trial of this cause.” It appearing from the foregoing explanation to the bill that Burke was on bond and had apparently failed to respond thereto and that granting appellant’s request to put Burke upon trial first would have operated as a continuance of the/ instant cause, the court properly overruled the application. See Article/ 727 Vernon's C. C. P.

Appellant sought to prove by witnesses Graham and Conner the location of the switches in the packing plant by which the lights were turne/d on. Graham had testified that his attention had been called to the premises by all the lights in the office being on and appellant’s theory was that whoever had committed the burglary was familiar with the premise/s and knew the location of the light switches, and in this connection offered to prove that neither appellant or his co-defendant Burke had ever worked at the packing plant or were familiar with the/ premises in any way. The court declined to permit evidence as to the location of the switches on the ground that it was immaterial. Bills of exception were reserved, and exception also taken to the/ statement of the court made in ruling upon this tesimony. The court had announced he thought the testimony was immaterial, and upon counsel for appellant insisting that it was most material, the court used the following language: “I do not think it *307 is, any man can step into a building and strike matches and find the! switch. I will exclude! all testimony on that line and give you a full bill on that and also on the statement of the court.” In qualifying the bill of exception to the remark of the court the trial judge says the statement was made in the presence and hearing of the jury but was directed to counsel for appellant, and was explanatory of the judge’s reason for believing the testimony immaterial. We are not prepared to say under the facts of this case that the court was in error in excluding the offered testimony. If there was any evidence in the record suggesting that some one other than appellant and his co-defendant had committed the burglary some merit might appear in the. bill; -but the State’s evidence shows that appellant and his co-defendant were found in the building and were arrested by the night watchman as they were emerging therefrom. The theory of appellant that the burglary must have been committed by some one familiar with the packing plant and therefore who knew the location of the light switches is purely a theory without any facts in evidence upon which to base the same. We are inclined to the view that the statement of the judge of his reasons for holding the testimony immaterial were harmless for the same reasons. The trial judge cannot exercise too great care in refraining from expressing his opinion of testimony whether admitted or excluded. (Art. 787 C. C. P.). Jurors are likely to be influenced by unintended and inadvertent statements of the trial judge. In the instant case we have been unable from the entire record to reach the conclusion that any harmful effects could have been produced. It is not every statement by the trial judge incident to the admission or rejection of testimony that presents error for which the judgment should be reversed.

After Burke and appellant were arrested an examining trial was held and Burke made a voluntary statement which was reduced to writing and signed by him. Appellant offered Burke’s statement in evidence, and reserved exception to its rejection by the court. No error was committed in declining to permit such statement to go in evidence. If Burke himself had been present he would not have been permitted to testify for appellant, being jointly indicted with him for the same offense. For the same reason his statement made on the examining trial was inadmissible!. It was further inadmissible as hearsay.

The court charged the jury that “a burglary is committed when one with intent to commit theft by breaking, enters a house without the consent of the owner or the! one in control of such house. By the term breaking is meant that the entry must be made with actual force. The slightest force, however, is sufficient to constitute breaking.” Immediately following the foregoing in a separate paragraph appears this language: “The term ‘entry’ includes every kind of entry but one made by the free consent of the occupant or of one *308 authorized to give such consent.” Then follows the definition of theft, and after that this paragraph: “An entry through an open door, with intent to commit the crime of theft, would not he burglary.” Exceptions were reserved to that portion of the court’s charge where he told the jury that the term “entry” included “every kind of entry but one made by free consent of the occupant or one authorized to give such consent” for the reason that in another portion of the charge the jury was instructed that an entry through an open door would not be burglary, and because the two charges taken together tended to confuse the jury, and that the first was not called for by the evidence or the law.

That portion of the charge with reference to “éntry” first given by the court is a part of Article 1306 P. C.

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Bluebook (online)
240 S.W. 920, 91 Tex. Crim. 304, 1922 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crane-v-state-texcrimapp-1922.