Ex Parte Turner

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas

Ex Parte Turner

196 S.W.2d 832, 149 Tex. Crim. 500, 1946 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 842

CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas

DecidedOctober 16, 1946

DocketNo. 23497.

StatusPublished

This text of 196 S.W.2d 832 (Ex Parte Turner) 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

Ex Parte Turner, 196 S.W.2d 832, 149 Tex. Crim. 500, 1946 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 842 (Tex. 1946).

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Opinion

BEAUCHAMP, Judge.

This proceeding was instituted for the purpose of securing-the release of appellant from the custody of the Sheriff of Navarro County. A justice of the peace, upon hearing a complaint instituted for the purpose, ordered the appellant to jail for a period of one year unless he should execute a good and sufficient peace bond in the penal sum of One Thousand Dollars.

The only question in the case is the sufficiency of the evidence to authorize the order made by the justice of the peace. The State’s Attorney has filed a suggestion that the evidence is insufficient. We consider the suggestion well taken.

The appellant is a negro and was engaged in a quarrel with another negro by the name of Lacy Roberts. In this fuss appellant is quoted as saying to Roberts that he was not afraid of him or anybody else and, specifically, that “There is a white man out there by you I am going to throw something heavy on.” Lacy assumed that this white man was J. J. Slater. He assumed further that appellant meant by the quoted statement that he *501 was going to kill Slater by throwing something heavy in his car some night. He made a report to Mr. Slater to this effect, whereupon Slater became the complaining witness in the case before the justice of the peace.

The evidence as introduced on the trial of the case does not so much as sustain Lacy Roberts in the message that he carried to Mr. Slater. Even so, it appears to be a rash statement made by one negro to another, in a quarrel, concerning another party, and amounts to nothing more serious than his bragging about his fearlessness. His reputation for carrying such threats into execution is not in the record and there is no circumstance to, in any way, explain or add to the above-quoted statement.

Under Ex parte Schmidt, 167 S. W. (2d) 1026, and authorities there discussed, it is perfectly clear that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the order complained of.

The judgment of the trial court is reversed and respondent is directed to release the relator from custody.

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BEAUCHAMP, Judge.

This proceeding was instituted for the purpose of securing-the release of appellant from the custody of the Sheriff of Navarro County. A justice of the peace, upon hearing a complaint instituted for the purpose, ordered the appellant to jail for a period of one year unless he should execute a good and sufficient peace bond in the penal sum of One Thousand Dollars.

The only question in the case is the sufficiency of the evidence to authorize the order made by the justice of the peace. The State’s Attorney has filed a suggestion that the evidence is insufficient. We consider the suggestion well taken.

The appellant is a negro and was engaged in a quarrel with another negro by the name of Lacy Roberts. In this fuss appellant is quoted as saying to Roberts that he was not afraid of him or anybody else and, specifically, that “There is a white man out there by you I am going to throw something heavy on.” Lacy assumed that this white man was J. J. Slater. He assumed further that appellant meant by the quoted statement that he *501 was going to kill Slater by throwing something heavy in his car some night. He made a report to Mr. Slater to this effect, whereupon Slater became the complaining witness in the case before the justice of the peace.

The evidence as introduced on the trial of the case does not so much as sustain Lacy Roberts in the message that he carried to Mr. Slater. Even so, it appears to be a rash statement made by one negro to another, in a quarrel, concerning another party, and amounts to nothing more serious than his bragging about his fearlessness. His reputation for carrying such threats into execution is not in the record and there is no circumstance to, in any way, explain or add to the above-quoted statement.

Under Ex parte Schmidt, 167 S. W. (2d) 1026, and authorities there discussed, it is perfectly clear that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the order complained of.

The judgment of the trial court is reversed and respondent is directed to release the relator from custody.

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Bluebook (online)

196 S.W.2d 832, 149 Tex. Crim. 500, 1946 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 842, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-turner-texcrimapp-1946.

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