Cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of Texas, during the latter part of the Tyler term, 1874, and the first part of the Galveston term, 1875. Volume 42. Page: 261
viii, 704 p. ; 22 cm.View a full description of this book.
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1875.] BARBARA V. THE STATE. 261
Opinion of the Court.
2. SAME. The fact that a witness testifies in order to escape prosecution,
and the moral delinquency involved in actual guilt, affect the credibility
of the witness so as to render corroboration necessary.
3. VENUE-REASONABLE DOUBT. The law as to reasonable doubt may not
extend to the proof of the venue, but the question is not adjudicated.
APPEAL from Nueces. Tried below before the Hon. T. C.
Barden.
The facts sufficiently appear in the opinion.
J. S. Givens and J. W. Ioses, for appellants.
Geo. Olark, for State.
GOULD, J. At the October term, 18T4, of the District Court
of Nueces county, appellant was tried on an indictment for the
murder of John F. Morton; was proved guilty of murder in
the first degree, and his punishment assessed at confinement inl
the penitentiary for life.
The only witness whose testimony implicated appellant in
the crime was Amado Lerma, and the principal question in
the case is: Was this witness an accomplice in any sense entitling
defendant to have the jury instructed that the uncorroborated
testimony of an accomplice is not sufficient of itself
to support a conviction ? The statement of facts contains the
following:
" The State then put on the stand Amado Lerma. Defend"ant's
counsel objected to witness testifying until witness's
" status had been inquired into. It then appeared to the court
"that this witness had been indicted as one of the murderers
of John F. Morton, and had also been indicted for the [mur"der
of the] other three men killed at Penescal, and had been
" indicted in three or four indictments for conspiracy to murder
" the parties deceased, at the last term of the court. The Dis"
trict Attorney had entered a nolle prosequi as to the said
"Lerma in the indictment for the murder of John F. Morton.
" All of the other indictments for murder were still pending.
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Texas. Supreme Court. Cases argued and decided in the Supreme Court of Texas, during the latter part of the Tyler term, 1874, and the first part of the Galveston term, 1875. Volume 42., book, 1881; St. Louis, Mo.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth28531/m1/269/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .