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25 Tex. Ct. App. 666

Cudd v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas

Decided June 20, 1888

Court of Appeals of Texas · decided 1888-06-20

Tried below before the Hon. J. C. Randolph. The conviction in this case was for the theft of a horse, the property of Ab. Turner, in McCulloch county, Texas, on the fifteenth day of July, 1884. A term of ten years in the penitentiary was the penalty assessed by the verdict. Ab. Turner was the first witness for the State. He testified that he lived above Camp San Saba, McCulloch county, Texas, in 1884. At that time he owned the horse mentioned in the indictment.

Decided 1888-06-20

Willson, Judge.

¶1We can not reconcile it to our sense of right and to our view of the law to permit this conviction to stand. We do not think that the evidence, as it is presented to us, supports the conviction. Defendant proved that he purchased the horse from one Cooper, and produced on the trial a duly authenticated bill of sale from said Cooper. While there are some circumstances in proof which throw some suspicion upon the bona fides of said purchase, they are of slight weight, and do not, we think, disprove the purchase, or the good faith of the defendant in the transaction. These suspicious circumstances are all consistent with the defendant’s innocence.

¶2In addition to proving that he purchased the horse, he established a good character for honesty in the community in which he lived for a number of years. It does not appear that the facts of the case were as fully and clearly developed upon the trial as they might have been, and can yet be, both on the part of the State and of the defendant. We think the ends of justice may be subserved by remanding the cause for a new trial. We deem it unnecessary to notice other questions raised in the record, as they are of character which may not arise on another trial.

¶3The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded.

¶4Reversed and remanded.

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