Branch v. State
Branch v. State
Opinion of the Court
The appellant pleaded guilty to a charge of theft, from a house, of a razor of the value of $3, alleged to have been committed in Travis county, on the 10th day of
The accused moved the court to grant him a new trial for reasons set out in his motion, in substance as follows :
That he was naturally of a weak mind, and that his attorneys were not fully acquainted with the nature of his defense ; that the natural weakness of defendant’s mind was such as to render him incapable of pleading guilty; that an undue influence was exercised over his mind to induce him to plead guilty; and that, on the inquiry as to his sanity, the defense proved beyond a doubt that the defendant was insane at the time the offense was committed.
This motion appears to have been filed November 12, 1875. The date of the verdict, as stated in the clerk’s marginal memorandum, was on the 5th of November, 1875. On the 15th day of November, 1875, another motion for new trial was filed, based on the mental condition of the accused, and supported by the affidavits of three persons.
We have no other data to guide us as to the dates of these several proceedings, except the memoranda on the margin of the transcript. From these it appears that these motions for new trial were not made within the time allowed by law, nor is there any attempt to show any excuse for not moving intime. Pase. Dig., Art. 1473. We are unable to determine whether the motions should have prevailed or not, if they had been made at the proper time, for the reason that, there is no statement of facts embodied in the record. In the absence of a statement of facts, neither the charges of the court nor motion for new trial, based upon the evidence, will be considered. Henrie v. The State, 41 Texas, 573.
The record shows that the question of the sanity of the accused was submitted to a jury, who returned a verdict that he was of sane mind.
On the 26th of March, 1876, at a term of the court subse
If a statement of facts had been regularly signed at a - former term, and it had been omitted to file it in court, the judge could have made the correction of the record; but this could only have been done by motion, and on service of notice on the opposite party.
Without intending to decide as to whether the refusal of the judge to order the correction of the record at a subsequent term can be revised on appeal, we are clearly of the opinion that such practice ought not to be encouraged, ■especially when there is no showing, by bill of exceptions •or otherwise, of the reasons influencing the judge in refusing to order the correction, and in the absence of notice of the motion served on the opposite party.
We have not attempted to discuss, consecutively, the various errors assigned; suffice it to say that, whilst the transcript leads to the impression that the record has not
The judgment is, therefore, affirmed.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.