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43 Tex. 576

Johnson v. State

Texas Supreme Court

Decided July 1, 1875

Texas Supreme Court · decided 1875-07-01

Tried below before the Hon. M. H. Bonner. Claiborne Johnson was indicted for an assault with intent to kill and murder one William Ross. Ross testified that while he was plowing in his field Johnson, who was in the road outside of the field, addressed him, saying, “Come and take a drink with me,” to which Ross made no answer.

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1875-07-01

How this case has been cited

Cited by 5 later decisions — most recently May 1982

3 state decisions

20187518801890190019101920193019401950196019701980decided

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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Roberts, Chief Justice.

¶1The only ground of objection *577taken to the conviction in the motion for a new trial which it is necessary to pass upon is, that “the jury found the defendant guilty without and against evidence.”

¶2The evidence on the trial, as contained in the statement of facts, is entirely deficient in showing any distinct act on the part of the defendant indicating an effort then to shoot William Ross, or otherwise use the gun which he held in his hands in such manner as to inflict violence upon his person.

¶3In every assault there must be an intention to injure, coupled with an act which must at least be the beginning of the attempt to injure then, and not an act of preparation for some contemplated injury that may afterwards be inflicted. (Higginbothem v. The State, 23 Tex., 574.)

¶4Judgment reversed and cause remanded.

¶5Reversed and remanded.

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