White v. State

Citations

• 10 Tex. Ct. App. 167

Syllabus

<p>1. New Trial.— By the Code of Procedure, article 777, all motions for new trials in criminal cases are subjected to the regulations which govern such motions in civil suits. Those regulations are weE established and defined, and permit a new trial on account of newly-discovered evidence only when necessary to the ends of justice, and require düigence on the part of the applicant, and that the evidence be material and not merely cumulative. No indulgence is accorded to the negligent, and applications founded on sEght circumstances wiE be promptly overruled. See the opinion in extenso on this subject.</p> <p>S. Same—Practice.— The Code of Procedure, article 779, enacts that a new trial must be applied for within two days after the conviction, but provides that “for good cause shown ” in a case of felony the trial court may allow the application to be made at any time before the close of the term. This in effect confides to the judicial discretion of the trial court the determination of applications made after the expiration of two days; and therefore the exercise of that discretion will not be revised on appeal unless it has been abused to the appellant’s prejudice.</p> <p>3. Same—Case Stated.—Nearly a month after the appellant was convicted of burglary, he presented to the court below an application for a new trial based on newly-discovered evidence contradictory of the injured party’s denial that ajjpellant was his domestic servant. The trial court refused to allow the application to be filed, but the record shows that its merits were considered and passed upon, and nothing indicates an abuse of its discretion by the trial court. Held, that no error in the action of the court below is made apparent.</p>