Huff v. State

Citations

• 23 Tex. Ct. App. 291
• 4 S.W. 890
• 1887 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 67

Syllabus

<p>1. Affidavit—Information—Variance, as to the date of the alleged offense, between the affidavit or complaint and the information based upon it, is fatal, and a motion to quash the information should prevail.</p> <p>2. Practice—Amendment.—In support of a motion to amend the complaint in this ease, the county attorney filed his affidavit to the effect that, since the filing of the complaint and information, some unknown person had fraudulently added a figure to the original figure inserted by him in the complaint to indicate the date of the offense, by which fraudulent addition the variance between the complaint and the information was made to appear. Upon the hearing of evidence the trial court sustained the motion to amend, and the trial proceeded. Held, that the proceeding was wholly unauthorized. The date of the offense, both in the complaint and information, being matter of substance and not of form merely, could not be amended, either upon motion or by order of the court.</p> <p>3. Mutilation of Complaint—Substitution of Same.—The fraudulent alte) ation of a date in an affidavit or complaint amounts to a mutilation of the same, and is a mutilation of the information. The only remedy available in such case is by substitution of the complaint and information, in the manner provided by Article 434, of the Code of Criminal Procedure.</p> <p>4. Evidence.—It is a rule of evidence that when an original document can be produced in court, oral proof of its contents can not be made. The original instrument in this case being in court on this trial, the court below erred in permitting a witness to testify to the contents and date of the same.</p> <p>5. Unlawful Traffic in Counts Claims—Fact Case.—See the statement of the ease for evidence held insufficient to support a conviction for unlawful traffic in county scrip, inasmuch as it fails to establish the official character of the appellant as a county officer at the alleged date of the offense.</p>