Vincent v. State

Citations

• 9 Tex. Ct. App. 303

Syllabus

<p>1. Practice — Charge of the Court. — If an erroneous charge was not excepted to, nor a proper instruction requested, the error in the charge is not cause for reversal unless it was, under all the circumstances, calculated to injure the rights of the defendant.</p> <p>2. Same. — Per contra, if an erroneous charge was duly excepted to, or if a proper charge was requested and refused, the judgment will be reversed, though the tendency of the error to injure the defendant was but slight and the proof of the defence but vague.</p> <p>3. Same. —In atrial for theft, the defence stood upon a claim of bona fide purchase of the property, and adduced testimony which tended directly to prove that defence. The charge of the court wholly ignored the issue, but no objection was taken to it until the motion for a new trial was presented. Held, that the defect in the charge was necessarily prejudicial to the rights of the defendant, and is therefore material error.</p>