Case ID: sw_235/html/0879-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "HAWKINS, J.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

BELL v. STATE.
    (No. 6528.)
    (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
    Dec. 7, 1921.)
    Perjury <§=»25(2) — Indiciment held insufficient for failing to aver that false statement was material.
    An indictment for perjury, that failed to aver that the alleged false statement was material to the matter under investigation, was insufficient.
    Appeal from District Court, Comanche County; J. R. McClellan, Judge.
    Earl Bell was convicted of perjury, and he appeals.
    Reversed, and prosecution dismissed.
    Hampton, Harris & Hampton, of De Leon, for appellant.
    R. G. Storey, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
   HAWKINS, J.

Conviction is for perjury. Penalty, two years in penitentiary.

Motion to quash the indictment was made for the reason, among others, that there was a failure to aver that the alleged false statement was material to the matter under investigation. The indictment reveals the justness of the criticism, and the Assistant Attorney General confesses error, under authority of Bell v. State, 75 Tex. Cr. R. 401, 171 S. W. 239; Scott v. State, 75 Tex. Cr. R. 396, 171 S. W. 243; Adamson v. State (No. 6425) 234 S. W. 532, opinion delivered November 2, 1921, not yet [officially] reported; Highshaw v. State, 234 S. W. 220, opinion delivered October 26, 1921, not yet [officially] reported.

Judgment of the trial court is reversed, and prosecution ordered dismissed under the present indictment.