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21 Tex. Ct. App. 513

McLaren v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas

Decided June 15, 1886

Court of Appeals of Texas · decided 1886-06-15

Tried below before the Hon. J. E. Crawford, County Judge. The conviction in this case was for the theft of a hack cushion and a pair of .hack lines, of the aggregate value of seven dollars, the property of J. E. Bond, in Robertson county, Texas, on the thirteenth day of October, 1884. The penalty assessed against the appellant was a fine of twenty-five dollars and confinement in the county jail for a period of thirty days. . J. E. Bond was the first witness for the State.

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently October 2006

2 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1886-06-15

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Willson, Judge.

¶1This conviction is not only not supported by, but is against the evidence and the law. Defendant explained his possession of the property by saying that he had found it on the road and had taken it up and carried it to his *517home. He proved the truth of this explanation by a witness who testified that he was in company with the defendant when the property was so found and taken. There is not a particle of evidence tending to show the falsity of defendant’s explanation, but, on the contrary, all the evidence in the case tends strongly to establish its truth, and corroborates the testimony of the witness who stated positi vely that the defendant did find the property and took it innocently. Defendant at no time claimed the property as his own, or attempted to conceal it, but, on the contrary, made efforts to discover the owner of it, and did, in fact, discover the owner of a portion of it, an over coat, and restored the same to the owner.

Opinion delivered June 15, 1886.

¶2The court erred in not granting the defendant a new trial, and for this error the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.

¶3Reversed and remanded.

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