Case ID: sw_232/html/0507-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "MORROW, P. J. IATTIMORE, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

WILLIAMS v. STATE.
    (No. 6235.)
    (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
    May 4, 1921.
    Rehearing Denied June 22, 1921.)
    1. Husband and wife <@=>313 — -Parent and child <®=> 17(6) — In a prosecution for desertion, evidence sufficient to sustain conviction.
    In a prosecution against a husband and father for desertion, including the refusal to provide for the support and maintenance of his child, evidence held sufficient to sustain a conviction.
    On Motion for Rehearing.
    2. Criminal law <©=>1088(16) — Where certified copy of complaint was filed in record, appeal will not be dismissed.
    Upon appeal from a conviction of desertion, where the Assistant Attorney General obtained from the proper authorities a duly certified copy of the eonixfiaint and had it filed with the record, the fact that there was no copy of the complaint incorporated in the record, which at most would be merely ground for dismissing the appeal, is no ground for reversal or for dismissal of defendant’s appeal.
    3. Indictment and information 130 — Separate misdemeanors may be charged in different counts.
    In misdemeanor cases, the state may charge separate and distinct offenses in different counts.
    4. Criminal law <§=>678(4) — That prosecutor asked for conviction on only one count held not to relieve defendant from prosecution on other count.
    Where one count of the information charged wife desertion and the other desertion of his minor child, the fact that after introduction of evidence the prosecutor elected to ask for conviction upon the second count did not raise any presumption in favor of the defendant which would relieve him from prosecution under that count or cast doubt on his guilt.
    5. Husband and wife <§=>305 — Parent and child <S^I7(i) — That after desertion husband offered to renew conjugal relations no defense.
    Though a few days prior to the actual institution of a prosecution for desertion of his wife and infant child defendant offered to renew his conjugal relations, that offer is no bar to a prosecution for either the crime of desertion of a wife or desertion of the child, but can be considered merely on the question whether the desertion was willful.
    6. Husband and wife <§=3305 — Parent and child <⅞=17(1) — That wife and child were provided for no defense to prosecution for desertion.
    In a prosecution for desertion of his wife and his infant child, the fact that the two were provided for is no defense, for it is very rare that actual suffering results from such desertion.
    Appeal from Collin County Court; T. O. Murray, Judge.
    John F. Williams was convicted of desertion and failing to provide for the support and maintenance of his child, and he appeals.
    Affirmed.
    Woodville Rogers, of McKinney, for appellant.
    R. H. Hamilton, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
   MORROW, P. J.

The conviction is for desertion, including the refusal to provide for the support and maintenance of his child. Punishment is fixed at a fine of $400 and confinement in the county jail for six months.

The sufficiency of the evidence is assailed. The prosecution was established August 30, 1920, and tried in December, 1920. Appellant married in September, 1918. He abandoned his wife in November, 1919. She, at the time, was living with appellant’s father, who was in very poor circumstances. She remained there a week, and then went to the home of her own father, who was old and also very poor. Appellant left no money or means of support save that his father testified upon the trial that, while he had not so informed the appellant’s wife, he would have been willing for her to have remained as a member of his family. ’ Appellant’s child was bom in March, 1920. It had received no support from the appellant; had no property; its mother was unable to support it; it was dependent upon the charity of relatives, who were likewise unable to maintain it. No communication with appellant was exchanged until about five days before the prosecution began, though the wife sought, in the meantime, to leam of the whereabouts of her husband. About five days before the prosecution he wrote her a letter and offered to renew his relations with her, admitting his wrong and seeking forgiveness. This she declined. Appellant testified: That at the time of his departure he went to East Texas in search of work. That he returned in about three weeks, and learned that his wife had gone to her father. He did not claim to have had any contract or agreement with his father to support her. That he did not go to his wife on his return, because he regarded himself as unwelcomed at her father’s house. He knew of her pregnancy at the time of his departure. He claimed to have made arrangements for medical attention during her confinement, but that this was controverted. We are unable to concur in the view of the appellant. In our opinion, the proof shows the commission of the offense charged.

The judgment is affirmed.

On Motion for Rehearing.

IATTIMORE, J.

In his motion for rehearing appellant calls attention to the fact that the complaint upon which the prosecution was based in the county court of Collin county did not appear in the record. Our Assistant Attorney General observed the absence of said complaint, and very wisely and correctly had obtained from proper authorities a duly certified copy of said complaint, and had same filed with the record herein before the matter was called to our attention upon motion for rehearing. Failure to find incorporated in the record a complaint, would be no more than ground for dismissing the appeal, and upon correction of such record by supplying the missing complaint, if in fact one was on file in the lower court, we would reinstate such appeal, and consider the case on its merits. Believing that the record has been sufficiently corrected, we do not uphold appellant’s contention that this case should be reversed for lack of such complaint, or his appeal dismissed.

Appellant also insists that because of the fact that the information contained two separate counts, one charging wife desertion and the other desertion of his minor child, and the further fact that after the evidence was introduced the state elected apparently to ask for a conviction only upon the second count, that therefore it is established that appellant was innocent of the offense charged against him in the first count, and that he is entitled to urge that fact as in some way in bar of his prosecution under the second count. We do not attach to the action of the state in the lower court in. such election the same significance attached thereto 'by appellant. In misdemeanor cases the state may charge separate and distinct offenses in different counts, and in the 'instant- case it is unquestionably true that the charge in one count of desertion of appellant’s wife was a separate and distinct offense from that charged in the second count, which was his desertion of his child. We do not think that the fact that the state, for reasons supposedly sufficient to the prosecuting attorney in the court below, did not ask for a conviction upon the first count, would in any wise imply or create any presumption in favor of the accused which could relieve him from prosecution under the remaining count or cast doubt on his guilt. There is abundant evidence on the part of the state that appellant, without any sufficient excuse and in such manner as to justify his act as being considered willful, abandoned his wife when she was in a delicate condition, and thereafter offered her no support and made n’o effort to care for his child after its birth. at any time. Contention is made that, because a few days prior to the actual institution of the prosecution herein he seems to have offered to renew his conjugal relations with his wife, that this would condone, if not prevent, 'his being held guilty of child desertion. We do not think such act would prevent a prosecution of one accused of such crime, either for desertion of the wife or child, and that such offer on his part would be only to be considered by the jury in determining the good or bad faith of the accused and in arriving at a solution of the question of whether his alleged desertion was willful or not.

Neither do we think that one who abandons his wife or children may seek justification by claiming that he knew they had relatives who would take care of them and not let them suffer. Very few people are permitted to suffer for food or clothing in this country of ours, where generosity abounds and orphanages extend. their welcoming hands to those who are deprived of shelter and home, but such facts afford neither excuse nor justification to those who are charged by the law of nature and the law of the land with the primary duty of caring and providing for such children and women.

We find no sufficient reason presented in the motion for rehearing for changing our former opinion, and the motion for rehearing is overruled. 
      (S=3For otter cases see same topic and KBY-NTJMBER. in ah Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes