Goode v. State

Citations

• 16 Tex. Ct. App. 411

Syllabus

<p>1. Unlawful Sale of Estray Animals—Charge of the Court.—Indictment comprehended the two counts of selling the estray animals without having given legal notice of the sale, and of selling the same when three adult bidders besides the family of the taker up were not present. After the evidence was submitted the State abandoned the first count, and elected to proceed on the second, notwithstanding which the court charged, in effect, that if the jury believed the defendant sold the said animals without having given legal notice, they should convict. Held, that such question was no longer in issue, and the defendant promptly excepting, the charge was erroneous upon the elementary principle that the charge of the court should be confined to the issues to be tried.</p> <p>3. Same—Practice.—The liability of the court to mislead the jury and prejudice the rights of the accused by extending the charge beyond the issues involved in the trial, is the reason of the rule. When, then, the defendant has excepted to such a charge, and doubt arises as to how far the defendant may have been prejudiced by it, the duty of reversing the judgment is imposed upon this court. To defeat the enforcement of this rule, it must manifestly appear that the charge, though wrong, did not influence the verdict of the jury.</p> <p>3. Same—Construction of a Term—Charge of the Court.—To the law (Rev. Stats., Art. 4583) regulating the sale of certain estray animals is appended a proviso which, in effect, forbids the sale, even under legal notice, unless there be present at the sale at least three adult bidders besides the members of the family of the taker up. In the charge authoizing the jury to convict in the event they believed that three adult bidders besides the members of the defendant’s family were not present at the sale, the court declined to instruct as to what constitutes a “ family,” but declared that question to be a matter of proof, and authorized the jury to construe the meaning of the