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156 Tex. Crim. 540

Powell v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas

Decided October 31, 1951

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas · decided 1951-10-31

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently February 1957

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1951-10-31

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WOODLEY, Judge.

¶1Appellant was convicted of an assault with intent to rape upon his daughter, and the jury assessed his punishment at 25 years in the penitentiary.

¶2The daughter testified to facts which, if believed by the jury, are sufficient to support their verdict. They need not be discussed.

¶3Bill of Exception No. 1 complains that the child, who was under 14 years of age, was not a competent witness, both because of her immaturity and because of her alleged mental deficiency.

¶4*541The bill reveals that the question of the competency of the witness was first raised after she had given her testimony, when appellant objected “to any of said testimony going to the jury.”

¶5It is noted that appellant, in his motion for new trial, suggested that the court should hear evidence on the issue of the competency of the witness. But from the bill, it appears that no evidence was heard and appellant relies alone on the testimony of the witness given on cross-examination to show her incompetence.

¶6We are unable to agree that an abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court in permitting the child witness to testify is shown. She testified in answer to the district attorney’s question : “That did happen, I am telling the truth. I know what will happen to me if I don’t tell the truth. If I am telling a lie God will punish me and the judge will punish me if I am telling a lie.”

¶7Appellant’s remaining bill is directed to the refusal of the following requested charge: “You are further charged as a part of the law in this case that if you believe from the evidence, or have a reasonable doubt thereof, that the prosecutrix was told by her mother to testify to the offense of assault with intent to rape or rape as its defenses have been defined to you herein, for the reason of a family dispute between the Defendant and Defendant’s wife, you will find the Defendant ‘not guilty’.”

¶8The trial judge properly refused to give such charge, it being on the weight of the evidence and being an incorrect statement of the law. If the testimony of this child be true, it is immaterial that she may have been told to relate it by reason of a family quarrel.

¶9The weight to be given the testimony was for the jury. Appellant did not testify. He did not call his wife to the stand, and the state could not.

¶10We would not be authorized to disturb the jury’s verdict, the evidence being sufficient to sustain their findings.

¶11No error appearing, the judgment is affirmed.

¶12Opinion approved by the Court.

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