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151 Tex. Crim. 176

Cuellar v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas

Decided December 3, 1947

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas · decided 1947-12-03

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““This means that the punishment must be fixed at a term of years. Life imprisonment in the penitentiary is not for a term of years and is authorized only when the penalty fixed by statute so provides. See Ex parte Pruitt, 139 Tex.Cr.R. 438 , 141 S.W.2d 333 ; Square v. State, 142 Tex.Cr.R. 493 , 154 S.W.2d 852 .” “The Court having fixed a punishment not authorized, the judgment is reversed * 4c * »”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Ex Parte Balas

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1947-12-03

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently October 1975

2 federal appellate · 5 state decisions

401947195019601970decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

DAVIDSON, Judge.

¶1The indictment charged appellant with the nighttime burglary of the private residence of John E. Oaks. There was also a count charging a prior conviction of an offense of like character.

¶2Appellant waived trial by jury and pleaded guilty before the court. The proceedings touching the entry and receipt of a plea of guilty before the court are regular. The trial court fixed appellant’s punishment at confinement in the penitentiary for life. Neither the judgment nor sentence shows that the court charging a prior conviction entered into the punishment so fixed.

¶3The statute (Art. 1391, P. C.) fixes the punishment for night-time burglary of a private residence at confinement in the penitentiary for “any term not less than five years.” This means that the punishment must be fixed at a term of years. Life imprisonment in the penitentiary is not for a term of years and is authorized only when the penalty fixed by statute so provides. See Ex Parte Pruitt, 139 Tex. Cr. 438, 141 S. W. (2d) 333; Square v. State, 142 Tex. Cr. R. 493, 154 S. W. (2d) 852.

¶4*177The court having fixed a punishment not authorized, the judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded.

¶5Opinion approved by the Court.

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