Preston v. State
Preston v. State
Opinion of the Court
Haskell Preston appeals his theft conviction and sentence of ten years confinement. We overrule his two grounds of error and affirm.
In the court’s charge to the jury, a portion of the typewritten instructions was crossed out. The typed charge stated that appropriation of property is unlawful if it is without the owner’s effective consent or the property is stolen and it is appropriated by one knowing it was stolen by another. The indictment did not charge Preston with unlawfully appropriating property known by him to be stolen. A portion of the charge,
We presume that the charge, with delineation, was the one certified and filed before being read to the jury. Tex.Code Crim.Pro.Ann. art. 44.24(a) (Vernon 1979). And, absent some showing to the contrary, we presume the jury followed the instructions given them by the court and thus did not consider matters crossed out of the charge. We find no error. If there were error it would not be fundamental and because no objection was made to the charge at trial, nothing is presented for review. Brandon v. State, 599 S.W.2d 567 (Tex.Cr.App. 1979); Peterson v. State, 508 S.W.2d 844 (Tex.Cr.App. 1974); Tex.Code Crim.Pro. Ann. art. 36.19 (Vernon 1981).
As a further point, Preston contends his sentence is invalid because it was pronounced before the court denied his motion for new trial. We find no merit in this contention.
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.