Pickens v. State

Citations

• 9 Tex. Ct. App. 270

Syllabus

<p>1. Former Acquittal — Practice. —Being on trial for threatening to take the life of It. M. Holcraft, the defendant pleaded his former acquittal on a charge of threatening to take the life of Henry Holcraft. On motion of the State, the plea was stricken out. Held, that the plea was bad upon its face, because, under the latter charge, no conviction could have been had for the former one; and, being bad upon its face, the motioú to strike it out was properly sustained. Had it presented on its face a legal defence, it should have been submitted to the jury along with the plea of not guilty, and a finding whether it was true or not true would have been necessary. ,</p> <p>2. Evidence. — In a trial for seriously threatening to take the life of one EL, the defence proposed to prove by EL that, some fourteen days after the making of the threats, he and the defendant met in the road, and that the defendant made no attempt to execute the threats — the object being to show that the threats were not seriously made. Held, in consideration of the lapse of time between the making of the threats and the meeting of the parties, that the proposed proof was correctly excluded.</p>