Flores v. State

Citations

• 13 Tex. Ct. App. 665
• 1883 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 64

Syllabus

<p>1. Theft—Circumstantial Evidence—Charge of the Court.—When circumstantial evidence is alone relied upon to establish the inculpatory facts, the failure of the court to charge the law controlling such evidence is fatal error, and is peremptory cause for reversal.</p> <p>2. Same.—Having failed in the general charge to embrace the law of circumstantial evidence in a case where the inculpatory facts depended upon such evidence, it was error to refuse a special charge embodying a correct enunciation of such law, asked by defendant.</p> <p>3. Same—Possession of Recently Stolen Property—Charge of the Court.—While the statute provides that possession of an animal recently stolen without a written bill of sale specifically describing the animal shall be deemed prima facie evidence of illegal possession, it is error to so charge in the abstract. The trial court should instruct the jury that, though the failure to produce a written conveyance is, prima facie evidence of illegal possession, yet it is not conclusive, and may be rebutted by competent evidence.</p>