Yeager v. State

294 S.W. 200, 106 Tex. Crim. 462, 1927 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 199
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 6, 1927
DocketNo. 10651.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 294 S.W. 200 (Yeager 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
Yeager v. State, 294 S.W. 200, 106 Tex. Crim. 462, 1927 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 199 (Tex. 1927).

Opinion

BAKER, Judge.

The appellant was convicted of robbery with firearms, and his punishment assessed at seven years in the penitentiary.

The record discloses that the appellant, Earl Collins, Elmer Wilkens, Joe Hobrecht, Jack Smith and Kenneth Smith were charged in the first count of an indictment with making an assault upon one William Herff with a deadly weapon, to-wit, a gun, and taking from his person §19,138 in money, and in the third count with making an assault upon T. D. Anderson with a deadly weapon, to-wit, a pistol, and taking from his person §19,138. in money. This is a companion case to that of Kenneth Smith v. State, No. 10442, decided March 30, 1927, yet unre *464 ported. The court submitted both counts of the indictment, as given above, to the jury and a general verdict of guilty was returned, assessing the punishment at seven years in the penitentiary, as above stated. The record further discloses that the robbery was committed in the San Antonio National Bank on or about March 30, 1926. It was the contention of the state that the appellant, acting with the other parties named in the indictment, robbed said bank on the date alleged in the indictment at about 12:30 p. m., using sawed-off shotguns and a pistol.. The appellant entered a plea of not guilty and defended upon, the ground of an alibi.

The record contains seven bills of exception. Bill No. 1 complains of the action of the court in permitting the state to introduce in evidence, over appellant’s objection, an exchange of telegrams between Kenneth Smith at Corpus Christi and his brother' at San Antonio, to the effect that the former would be at the-residence of his brother, Jack Smith, in San Antonio on the: Sunday preceding the alleged robbery. We are of the opinion that the appellant’s objection went more to the weight than to-the admissibility of this testimony, and that there was no error in the court’s action.

In bills Nos. 2, 3 and 4 complaint is made to the action of the-court in permitting the officers to testify regarding the search of a Ford coupe belonging to co-defendant, Jack Smith, and the-search of his apartment about three or four hours after the alleged robbery, and in permitting the introduction of evidence-relative to finding certain caps in the coupe and finding a pistol and brief case in the apartment. Appellant contends that the-search was illegal because the officers had no search warrant. These bills disclose, without contradiction, that the automobile- and premises searched belong to, and were in the possession of, co-defendant Jack Smith. This being true, the appellant is not in a position to urge the invalidity of said search and invoke the protection afforded by the Search and Seizure Law. No one-could urge this objection except Jack Smith. See Cornelius on Search and Seizure, Sec. 12, where it is stated:

“The right to complain because of an illegal search and seizure-is a privilege personal to the wronged or injured party, and is. not available to anyone else.”

Numerous authorities are cited, including McDaniel v. U. S., 294 Fed. 769; Essgee Co. v. U. S., 262 U. S. 151, 67 L. Ed. 917. Also see Dozier v. State, 289 S. W. 45.

In bill No. 5 complaint is made to the action of the court in permitting the state’s witness Carver, a constable, to testify- *465 that after he had arrested Jack Smith and the appellant and placed them in jail, and after having a conversation with Jack Smith with reference to a gun, out of the presence and hearing of the appellant, he and other officers, accompanied by Jack Smith, went to a point in San Antonio near a bridge over the river and there found a gun, which was introduced in evidence. The bill shows that the officer was not informed that the appellant was in anywise connected with said gun, and was not told that the gun had any connection with the alleged robbery, but it was a matter separate and apart therefrom. The appellant urged timely objection to this testimony, contending among other things that there was no identification that said gun was used by any of the parties in the alleged robbery, and that said testimony was hearsay as to the appellant and obtained after appellant and-his co-defendant were in jail and from information furnished by his co-odefendant, Jack Smith, and that said gun was not shown to have been used in pursuance of a common design. We are of the opinion that the appellent’s contention in this respect will have to be sustained. The conspiracy, if any existed, was ended, and this testimony was inadmissible against this appellant who was on trial alone. Nixon v. State, 31 S. W. 409; Garcia v. State, 88 Tex. Crim. Rep. 605, 228 S. W. 938; Howard v. State, 92 Tex. Crim. Rep. 221, 242 S. W. 739; Henry v. State, 100 Tex. Crim. Rep. 186, 272 S. W. 475.

In bill No. 6 complaint is made to the action of the court in permitting the state to prove the following on cross-examination of the witness, Joe Hobrecht, who was jointly indicted with appellant, but whose case had been dismissed:

Q. “Now, Mr. Hobrecht, on the day of the robbery when did you get up that morning?”
A. “I got up about 11:30 or 11:40.”
Q. “Was anyone in the room with you?”
A. “My wife was in the room with me.”
Q. “Is that your wife ?”
A. “ * * * She is living with me as my wife.”
Q. “You were already married to another woman?”
A. “Yes, sir.”
Q. “Then you have two wives, have you ?”
A. “She is just living with me as my wife.”

When the witness answered that his wife was with him in the room, the appellant objected to the balance of said testimony on the ground that same was a matter upon which the witness could not be legally impeached, and same constituted an effort to impeach the witness without showing a legal charge of felony *466 or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, and that same was immaterial and prejudicial to the rights of the appellant. We think the admission of this testimony was error, especially in view of the fact that this witness had given testimony which, if believed by the jury, would have tended to prove appellant’s alibi. Mr. Branch, in his Ann. P. C., Sec. 165, states:

“Proof that defendant or any other witness associated with lewd women, or kept bad company, is not admissible for the purpose of impeaching the witness,” citing Holsey v. State, 24 Tex. Grim. App. 42; Ballard v. State, 160 S. W. 718, and many other authorities.

Bill No. 7 complains of the action of the court in permitting the state to show by the witness Jud James that he knew of Jack Smith having previously been in trouble. In view of the fact that the court withdrew this evidence from the jury, and the further fact that the same question is not likely to arise upon another trial, we do not feel called upon to discuss this issue at this time.

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692 S.W.2d 661 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1984)
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253 S.W.2d 273 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1952)
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207 S.W.2d 868 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1947)
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Laake v. State
299 S.W. 643 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1927)

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Bluebook (online)
294 S.W. 200, 106 Tex. Crim. 462, 1927 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yeager-v-state-texcrimapp-1927.