Case ID: sw2d_352/html/0746-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "MORRISON, Judge.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Weldon L. RUSSELL, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
    No. 33959.
    Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
    Jan. 10, 1962.
    Appellant represented himself.
    , Leon B. Doúglas, State’s Atty., Austin, for the State.
   MORRISON, Judge.

Our prior opinion in this cause is withdrawn.

The offense is driving-while intoxicated, as a second offender; the punishment, 5 days in .jail and a fine of $300.00.

Appellant . entered a plea of guilty, waived the right of trial by jury, and was tried before the court..

The punishment • prescribed by Article 802b, Vernon’s Ann.P.C., for the second offense of driving while intoxicated is “by a fine of not less than One Hundred ($100.00) Dollars nor more than Five Thousand ($5,000.00) Dollars, or confinement in the county jail not less than ten (10) days-nor more-than two (2) years, or by both'such fine and imprisonment, or. by confinement in the state penitentiary not to exceed .five (5) years.” .

Since the court' saw fit to impose a jail term, it was incumbent upon such court to comply with the statute. In Rutherford v. State, 79 Tex.Cr.R. 605, 187 S.W. 481, where the punishment was less than the minimum, this Court held that no court could assess a punishment that the law does not authorise! See also Justice v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 341 S.W.2d 431, and Henderson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 318 S.W.2d 898.

Because of the error shown, the judgment is. reversed and the cause remanded.