Opinion

Brown v. State

  • 50 Tex. Crim. 626
  • 99 S.W. 1001
  • 1907 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 34
Court
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
Filed
Feb 6, 1907
Status
Published
Author
Henderson
On the bench
Henderson
Cited by
2 cases
Authority
More cited than 96.6%

The opinion

HENDERSON, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of sodomy, and his punishment assessed at two years confinement in the reformatory.

There is but one question that we

need

consider. The court charged the punishment for sodomy to be by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than five years nor more than fifteen years, and then instructed the jury if they found appellant guilty, and that he was under 16 years of age, to assess his punishment at confinement in the penitentiary for not less than two years nor more than five years. This charge was erroneous. The punishment charged by the court, and which was inflicted by the jury, of two years, is not authorized in a sodomy case. The court should have instructed the jury that if they found appellant guilty, and that he was 16 years of age, or under, and they assessed his punishment at five years in the penitentiary, they might in their discretion confine him in the reformatory instead of

*627

the penitentiary. For this error in the court’s charge, and the assessment of the penalty thereunder of two years, the judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.

Reversed and remanded.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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