Short v. State

Decided February 24, 1965

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas · decided 1965-02-24

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““Whenever recklessness or criminal negligence enters into or is a part or element of any offense, or it is charged that the accused acted recklessly or with criminal negligence in the commission of an offense, the complaint, information, or indictment in order to be sufficient in any such case must allege, with reasonable certainty, the act or acts relied upon to constitute recklessness or criminal negligence, and in no event shall it be sufficient to allege merely that the accused, in committing the offense, acted recklessly or with criminal negligence.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Townsley v. State

Relies on Texas Employers Insurance Ass'n v. Texas Steel Erection Co.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1965-02-24

How this case has been cited

Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently November 1990

7 state decisions

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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DICE, Commissioner.

¶1 The conviction is for aggravated assault with a motor vehicle, by negligence; the punishment, a fine of $250.

¶2 The complaint and information charging negligence are fatally defective for the reason that the act or acts relied upon to constitute negligence are not alleged as required by Art. 408a, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P. See: Scott v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 344 S.W.2d 457.

¶3 By motion to quash, appellant pointed out such defect in the state’s pleading, which motion was by the court overruled.

¶4 Because of the insufficiency of the complaint and information, the judgment is reversed and the prosecution is ordered dismissed.

¶5 Opinion approved by the Court