Stanfield v. State

Citations

• 43 Tex. 167

Syllabus

<p>Aggravated assault—Guardian and ward.—The indictment charged the accused with committing an. aggravated assault on his ward in beating the child in a cruel, outrageous, and vicious manner, with intent to injure. The jury was instructed that if defendant inflicted a castigation upon the person of his ward with an unusual instrument, and one that was calculated to inflict serious injuries to his person, they must find him guilty: Held, error, because the charge made the instrument the test of unlawful correction, and this error was not corrected by a charge to acquit, “unless the chastisement was done in a cruel and vindictive manner,” for that made the manner of the punishment and not its extent the test of guilt.</p>