Case Name: Jack Harry SMITH, Appellant, v. STATE of Texas, Appellee
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1959-12-16
Citations: 330 S.W.2d 196
Docket Number: No. 31188
Parties: Jack Harry SMITH, Appellant, v. STATE of Texas, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 330
Pages: 196–197

Head Matter:
Jack Harry SMITH, Appellant, v. STATE of Texas, Appellee.
No. 31188.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
Dec. 16, 1959.
No attorney on appeal for appellant.
Dan Walton, Dist. Atty., Howell E. Stone, Asst. Dist. Atty., Houston, Leon B. Douglas, State’s Atty., Austin, for the State.

Opinion:
DAVIDSON, Judge.
This is a conviction for robbery by assault, with a prior conviction for a like offense. The punishment was assessed at life imprisonment.
The victim of the robbery was a service station operator, who testified that about three o'clock, a. m., two persons robbed him of $28 to $30 in money while one of them, whom the prosecuting witness identified as the appellant, exhibited and threatened him with a knife.
Testifying as a witness, appellant denied that he was the robber, and testified to an alibi.
The defensive issue was pertinently submitted to the jury and, by the jury, rejected.
The trial court permitted the state, after the evidence had closed, to reopen its case and introduce testimony the purpose of which was to impeach appellant in his alibi testimony.
Considerable latitude is given to trial judges in authorizing the reopening of the testimony before the case goes to the jury. Such is a matter resting largely within the discretion of the trial court. See Branch's P.C., Vol. 1, Sec. 398, p. 420.
There is nothing before us, here, evidencing an abuse of that discretion.
The judgment is affirmed.