Willard v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas
Appeal from the District Court of Eastland. Tried below before the Hon. T. H. Conner. The conviction in this case was for the theft of a cow, the property of J. S. Holloway, in Eastland county, Texas, on the fifteenth day of January, 1888. The penalty assessed against the appellant was a term of two years in the penitentiary. J. S. Holloway was the first witness for the State.
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Appeal from the District Court of Eastland. Tried below before the Hon. T. H. Conner. The conviction in this case was for the theft of a cow, the property of J. S. Holloway, in Eastland county, Texas, on the fifteenth day of January, 1888. The penalty assessed against the appellant was a term of two years in the penitentiary. J. S. Holloway was the first witness for the State. He testified, in substance, that in January, 1888, he had possession of a small stock of cattle that ran on the range near the defendant’s house, in Eastland county. On or about the tenth day of that month, he missed…
1Opinion of the Court
Willson, Judge.
This conviction is based wholly upon circumstantial evidence, and the court, having failed to instruct the jury with regard to that character of evidence, committed error for which the conviction must be set aside. (Willson’s Crim. Stats., sec. 2342.)
Holloway, the alleged owner of the cow, testified that the defendant promised to pay him fifteen dollars for the cow, etc. This did not prove a confession by defendant of the theft of the cow, and can not be regarded as more than a circumstance tending to establish defendant’s guilt of the theft. If defendant had confessed that he…
2Cited by6 opinions
- State v. AndrusSupreme Court of Louisiana · 1967
- Gardner v. StateWyoming Supreme Court · 1921
- Noble v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1917
- Riley v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma · 1928
- Bailey v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1923
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