Pool v. State

Decided June 16, 1888

Court of Appeals of Texas · decided 1888-06-16

Tried below before the Hon. J.„ C. Randolph. The conviction was for the theft of a horse, and the penalty ■assessed was a term of seven years in the penitentiary. J. L. Vaughan was the first witness for the State. He testified that he lived in Coleman county, Texas. In the latter part of the fall of 1885, the witness put a number of his horses in the pasture of Mr. Starkweather, in Coleman county, which horses he and his employes afterwards looked after.

Decided 1888-06-16

White, Presiding Judge.

¶1The only inculpatory evidence against defendant on the trial in the court below was that of the witness Horace Hunter, and his testimony raises a strong presumption that he was an accomplice ot particeps criminis in the theft of the horse. If so, then we look in vain for any corroboration of his testimony. If he did in fact give defendant a saddle in part payment for the horse when he purchased him, doubtless the fact that defendant had such a saddle might at least have‘been proven by some one else.

¶2We are of opinion the evidence as disclosed in this record is insufficient to support the conviction, and the judgment is therefore reversed and the cause remanded.

¶3Reversed and remanded.