O'Neal v. State

Citations

• 14 Tex. Ct. App. 582
• 1883 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 216

Syllabus

<p>1. Practice—Change of Venue.—The statute requires that a motion for a change of venue shall be supported by the affidavits of at least two credible persons resident in the county where the prosecution is instituted. This requirement is not met by the supporting affidavit of the defendant himself and one other person.</p> <p>2. Same—Practice in this Court.—A change of venue is within the judicial discretion of the trial court, and this court will not revise the action of the court below, in the absence of a showing of abuse of that discretion to the prejudice of the accused.</p> <p>3. Same.—Continuance is properly refused when there was a want of diligence in securing the attendance of the absent witness. See the opinion for a showing held insufficient.</p> <p>4. Same—Theft—Evidence.—The establishment of a conspiracy between the defendant and ether parties to perpetrate a theft, and to sell the stolen property and divide the proceeds, is a sufficient predicate to admit as evidence against the defendant alone, on his separate trial, the acts and declarations of his co-conspirators, even though such acts and declarations transpired in defendant’s absence and after the theft was completed, but before the sale of the property and division of the proceeds. See the opinion in extenso for an elaboration of the question.</p> <p>5. Same—Principal Offenders—Charge of the Court. —When upon any principle of law involved the charge of the court is explicit and correct, it is not error to refuse special instructions however correct they may be in the abstract. See the statement of the case for charges of the court upon principal offenders held correct, wherefore special charges requested upon the subject were properly refused.</p> <p>6. Same—Principal Offenders and Accomplices Distinguished.—In CooJc v. The State, ante p. 96, the distinction between principal offenders and accomplices is properly stated as follows: “The acts constituting an accomplice are auxiliary only, all of