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164 Tex. Crim. 421

299 S.W.2d 951

Atkinson v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas

Decided February 6, 1957

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas · decided 1957-02-06

Relies on 118 Tex. Crim. 136 - Abraham v. State · France v. State

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1957-02-06

How this case has been cited

Cited by 14 later decisions — most recently June 2007

12 state decisions

60195719601970198019902000decided

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.

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MORRISON, Presiding Judge.

¶1The offense is the possession of gambling paraphernalia, as denounced by Article 630, V.A.P.C.; the punishment, 90 days in jail.

¶2*422In view of our disposition of this case, a recitation of the •facts will not be deemed necessary.

¶3Omitting the formal parts, the indictment reads as follows: “… did then and there knowingly permit gambling paraphernalia to remain on premises there situate and then and there under his control.”

¶4It will be readily apparent from an examination of the statute in question that this indictment does not charge a violation of the law because the gravamen of the offense denounced by the statute is that the gambling equipment is “to be used for gaming purposes.” Any other interpretation of the law would make every householder who allows a deck of cards to remain in his home guilty under the act. Such was clearly not the intent of the legislature.

¶5Attention is directed to Willson’s Criminal Forms, 6th Ed., Section 847, page 194, which cites Abraham v. State, 118 Texas Cr. Rep. 136, 39 S.W. 2d 42, and France v. State, 118 Texas Cr. Rep. 608, 39 S.W. 2d 43.

¶6The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the prosecution ordered dismissed.

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