Watson v. State

Citations

• 9 Tex. Ct. App. 237

Syllabus

<p>1. Abortion. — In a prosecution for administering a drug or medicine to a pregnant woman for the purpose of producing an abortion, it is not necessary to allege w.hat drug or medicine was administered. Averment that it was a drug or medicine calculated to produce abortion is sufficient.</p> <p>2. Accomplice Testimony. — In a trial for attempting to produce an abortion, the female’s father was a witness for the prosecution, and testified that the defendant informed him of his daughter’s pregnancy, and suggested that he (the defendant) could give her a drug that would remove it, whereupon he (the witness) replied, “All right; anything to save my child.” Held, that this was such encouragement as made the witness an accomplice, and necessitated a proper instruction to the jury on the corroboration of his testimony required by the Code of Procedure.</p> <p>3. Same — Charge op the Court. — The court below instructed the jury that, “ in order to convict a defendant upon the testimony of an accomplice, there must be sufficient corroborating testimony of his guilt to satisfy your minds of the truth of the charge against him.” Held, erroneous, because not tantamount to the requirement of the Code that the corroborating evidence shall tend to “connect the defendant with the offence committed.”</p> <p>4. Same.—A pregnant woman who willingly receives and takes medicine to produce an abortion is not an accomplice. But her moral implication is a proper consideration for the jury in weighing her testimony.</p> <p>5. Evidence. — Testifying for the State, the implicated female deposed that she informed the defendant about her menstrual periods, and that he told her it would ruin him for her to have a baby. On her cross-examination, the defence asked her what was the occasion, or reason, for the colloquy between them. Held, that the inquiry was legitimate, and should have been allowed.</p> <p>6. Same.—The same witness also testified that she sent to the defendant’s wife a certain n