Kaufman v. State

159 S.W. 58, 70 Tex. Crim. 438, 1913 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 290
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 14, 1913
DocketNo. 2341.
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 159 S.W. 58 (Kaufman 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
Kaufman v. State, 159 S.W. 58, 70 Tex. Crim. 438, 1913 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 290 (Tex. 1913).

Opinions

PRENDERGAST, Judge.

Appellant was convicted for concealing stolen property and his punishment fixed at eight years in the penitentiary.

Most, if not all, of the questions attempted to he raised by him are by some, sixty bills of exception. A large number of them were refused outright by the court, stating that no exceptions were made and no bill taken on the trial. Of course, we can not consider them.

The State claims that the others in no way comply with the rules long and' well established so that this court can review the questions attempted to be raised by them. We will quote two of them in full, except their headings, which merely state the number, style of the cause and the court where pending. One is: “Be it remembered that upon *440 the trial of the above entitled and numbered cause, the following proceedings were had:

“Fletcher Howard, a witness for the State, over the objection of the defendant, was permitted to testify that in the latter part of May, he, the witness, stole some eggs from the "Santa Fe yards and delivered the same to the defendant herein, and that the defendant paid him $24 for same, to which defendant objected because same was evidence as to an extraneous and' independent matter and was immaterial, irrelevant and hurtful to defendant, to which the defendant then and there excepted at the time, and now tenders this his bill of exceptions, and asks that the same be approved, signed and filed as a part of the record in this cause.

“Which is accordingly done, this — day of October, A. D. 1912, with this explanation. This matter was admitted as a part of the evidence of an extraneous theft committed under the contract with this witness and other negroes, and the goods delivéred to the defendant, and was admitted as evidence of the ‘system.’”

Another is: “Be it remembered that upon the trial of the above entitled and numbered cause, the following proceedings were had:

“W. H. Black, a witness for the State, over the objection of the defendant, was permitted to testify that he had shipped 100 cases of eggs from Clifton, Texas, to Ben Ablon at Dallas, Texas, and that thereafter he came to Dallas, Texas, and went to Ben Ablon’s cold storage house and there found several cases of the eggs that were packed like eggs he shipped, and that said several cases of eggs had the name Sam Kaufman on same; that at the time he went to Ben Ablon’s cold storage house and there looked at said eggs, that he had two detectives of the City of Dallas with him, that he found two carloads of eggs in said storage house and that the cases he saw compared with the ones he packed and shipped from Clifton to Ben Ablon at Dallas, defendant objected because same was as to extraneous and independent matter in no way connected with the case on trial, because there was no testimony showing that the name ‘Sam Kaufman’ was placed upon said egg cases by the defendant herein or that same was done with his knowledge or consent, and because same tended to prejudice the jury against the defendant, was irrelevant and immaterial, prejudicial and hurtful to defendant, to which the defendant then and there excepted at the time, and now tenders this his bill of exceptions and asks that the same be approved, signed and filed as a part of the record in this -case.

“Which is accordingly done, this — day of-, A. D. 1912, with this explanation. This was part of the evidence of extraneous crime, admitted by the court as evidence of ‘system.’ ”

These are but samples of all of the others. Some of them may have a little more in the way of objections, others less. Hot one of them is in such condition as to require or authorize the court to consider them. Conger v. State, 63 Texas Crim. Rep., 315; Ortiz v. State, 151 S. W. Rep., 1059; James v. State, 63 Texas Crim. Rep., 75.

*441 Several other bills attempt to present that the county attorney was permitted to ask a certain claimed leading question. Each of these are as defective or more so than the others, but in no event do they present any error. Carter v. State, 59 Texas Crim. Rep., 73.

One of the most important questions attempted to be raised by most of these bills is appellant’s contention that proof of other like crimes, or crimes of the same nature, alleged to have been committed by appellant, were inadmissible for any purpose. The rule is that independent, crimes by an accused are ordinarily inadmissible; that an accused can not be convicted of the crime for which he is on trial by showing that he committed at other times like crimes. But while this is the rule there are exceptions to it as well established as the rule itself. In fact, such exceptions might be considered, and are, also, rules as well established as the said rule above mentioned. These exceptions are stated by Mr. Wharton, one of the ablest law writers in this country, in his volume 1, section 31, on Criminal Evidence, as follows: (1) As a part of the res gestae; (2) to -prove identity of person or of crime; (3) to prove scienter or guilty knowledge; (4) to prove intent; (5) to show motive; (6) to prove system; (7) to prove malice; (8) to rebut special defenses; (9) in various particular crimes.

In section 35 he says: “Evidence of collateral offenses often becomes relevant where it is necessary to prove scienter, or guilty knowledge, even though the reception of such evidence might establish a different and independent offense.

“In prosecutions for receiving stolen goods, guilty knowledge is the gist or substance of the offense to be established by the prosecution; and evidence of collateral offenses is admissible to establish such knowledge.”

Again, in section 39, he says: "When the object is to show system, subsequent as well as prior collateral offenses can be put in evidence, and from such system identity or intent can often be shown. The question is one of induction, and the larger the number of consistent facts the more complete the induction is. The time of the collateral facts is immaterial, provided they are close enough together to indicate that they are a part of the system. In order to prove purpose and design, evidence of system is relevant; and in order to prove system, collateral and isolated offenses are admissible from which system may be inferred.” These exceptions or rules are so well established, have been so often applied and held by this court, that we think it is unnecessary to collate, them, but see Melton v. State, 63 Texas Crim. Rep., 362, where a few of the cases and authorities are cited. See also Hennessy v. State, 23 Texas Crim. App., 340; Mason v. State, 31 Texas Crim. Rep., 306; Dawson v. State, 32 Texas Crim. Rep., 535; Pelton v. State, 60 Texas Crim. Rep., 412; Long v. State, 39 Texas Crim. Rep., 537. It is needless to cite the many other cases on these points.

The testimony of Fletcher Howard, who was an accomplice and a negro, was to the effect that he had worked for appellant and for appellant’s brother and father, who run a mercantile establishment in Dallas *442 for a number of years prior and up to the time the offense charged in this case, commencing work with him and them in 1905, or 1906, and had worked for them off and on from that time up to the time of the offense charged in this case or shortly prior thereto; that his work therein was that of a.

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Bluebook (online)
159 S.W. 58, 70 Tex. Crim. 438, 1913 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kaufman-v-state-texcrimapp-1913.