Walker v. State

Citations

• 42 Tex. 360

Syllabus

<p>1. Alibi—Reasonable doubt. A charge to the jury which assumes that no evidence of an alibi can avail the defendant (when the evidence of the State alone would be sufficient to convict), unless it produces conviction on the minds of the jury, that defendant was not present at the commission of the offense, but elsewhere, is error.</p> <p>3. Alibi—Reasonable doubt. If the evidence of an alibi produces upon the minds of the jury a reasonable doubt concerning the truth of the facts constituting the guilt of the defendant, affirmed in the indictment, it would be sufficient to require an acquittal. Such a doubt might arise in their minds from the evidence tending to prove the alibi, and if so, that would be sufficient to render the evidence available to rebut tlie affirmative’evidence for the State, without their minds ever having arrived at a conviction, to the degree of a moral certainty, as to the truth of the alibi.</p> <p>3. Charge op Court. On a trial for murder, the following language was used by the judge in his charge ; “If, therefore, the jury are satisfied, “ beyond a reasonable doubt, from the testimony adduced, that the “ means used by the defendant were likely to kill or do great bodily “ harm,” etc., “ the jury will return their verdict for murder in the “ first degree.” Held, where the defense relied on was an alibi, that such a charge indicated the opinion of the judge as plainly, and much more injuriously than if it had been directly expressed, and was error, for which a judgment of conviction should be reversed.</p> <p>4. Charge op Court—Dying declarations. A charge of the court that dying declarations were “ worthy of the same credit as other evidence,” is objectionable, as a charge upon the weight of evidence.</p> <p>5. Change op Venue. When an affidavit for a change of the venue of a criminal cause is made, on the ground of prejudice, with supporting affidavits, as required by Article 3904 Paschal’s Digest, it cannot be overborne by any number of