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551 S.W.2d 375

Tew v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas · decided 1977-05-18

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1977-05-18

How this case has been cited

Cited by 32 later decisions — most recently January 2002 · most notably Polk v. State (1985), Phillips v. State (1980)

2 federal appellate · 30 state decisions

2101977198019902000decided

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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DOUGLAS, Judge,

¶1dissenting.

¶2The majority reverses and dismisses the prosecution “in the interest of justice” because the indictment did not allege that appellant intentionally, knowingly, reckless*379ly or negligently possessed a firearm. The indictment, in part, alleges that appellant

“did possess a firearm, namely a pistol, away from the premises where he lived, and that the said Harold B. Tew had been previously and finally convicted of Burglary, an act of violence against property, in Cause No. 18,909 in the 169th District Court of Bell County, Texas, on December 3, 1971.”

¶3It is difficult how someone could possess a pistol away from his premises where he lived without knowingly doing so. The definition of possession in V.T.C.A., Penal Code, Section 1.07(28), “means actual care, custody, control or management.” Taking this definition, it is hard to conceive any case where one can have the actual care, custody, control or management of property without knowing it. It is not suggested how there could be a reckless or negligent possession under the definition passed by the Legislature.

¶4Appellant knew from the indictment what he was charged with. He did not complain and has not complained as of this date. But, “in the interest of justice”, the majority finds that he could have care, custody, control and management of a firearm without knowing it.

¶5The judgment should not be reversed.

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