Legal Opinion

Smith v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas

Decided May 18, 1887No. 5364PublishedCited by 5 opinions

Appeal from the District Court of Parker. Tried below before the Hon. R. B. Beckham. The indictment charged that the appellant, on December 5, 1886, did “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously set fire to and burn a certain house, to-wit, a house then and there known as the Parker county poor farm prison, the property of Parker county, there situate ; contrary,” etc.

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Appeal from the District Court of Parker. Tried below before the Hon. R. B. Beckham. The indictment charged that the appellant, on December 5, 1886, did “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously set fire to and burn a certain house, to-wit, a house then and there known as the Parker county poor farm prison, the property of Parker county, there situate ; contrary,” etc. The jury found appellant guilty, and assessed his punishment at five years in the penitentiary. • William Rigney, for the State, testified that on Sunday, December 5, 1886, he and A. L. Phillips and Smith, the defendant, were…

1Opinion of the Court

White, Presiding Judge.

Appellant was indicted for, and has been convicted of, arson, the house charged to have been burned being described as “a certain house then and there known as the Parker county poor farm prison, the property of Parker county.”

Appellant and two other parties, who had been convicted and fined for misdemeanors, were sent to the poor farm to work out their fines. When not at work they were confined in an iron cage in the prison, which prison was a wooden building. On the day in question, whilst the prisoners were in the iron cage, *362appellant wrapped some cotton taken from a…

2Cases cited3 opinions

  1. Luke v. StateSupreme Court of Alabama · 1873
  2. People v. CotteralNew York Supreme Court · 1820
  3. Delany v. StateTexas Supreme Court · 1874

3Cited by5 opinions

  1. United States v. Acevedo-VelezUnited States Court of Military Appeals · 1983
  2. Hinkley v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1965
  3. Caldarera v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1931
  4. Alexander v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1917
  5. Caldarera v. StateCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas · 1931

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