Debbs v. State

Citations

• 43 Tex. 650

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence.—On the trial of one indicted for theft of a yearling, the district attorney asked a witness who had stated that defendant had some young cattle, how he obtained them, to which the witness ' answered, over the objection of defendant, that “defendant has some young cattle, but had no stock cattle; that he conscripted those he had, and that witness understood conscription to mean the taking of cattle that did not belong to the one taking, or in other words, stealing. ’ ’ The refusal of the court to exclude the answer, held to be error.</p> <p>2. Theft.—One who unlawfully takes and appropriates to his own use an unbranded yearling, the property of another, without the owner’s consent, though liable for a trespass, cannot be convicted of theft if he took the animal in the day-time, and openly in the presence of others, under the apparent belief that the owner had forfeited his right.</p>