Case Name: Claud Nichols v. State
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1961-03-15
Citations: 171 Tex. Crim. 11
Docket Number: No. 33,136
Parties: Claud Nichols v. State
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Criminal Reports
Volume: 171
Pages: 11–12

Head Matter:
Claud Nichols v. State
No. 33,136.
March 15, 1961
WOODLEY, Presiding Judge, absent.
Clyde Elliott, Jr., Canton, for appellant.
J. S. Grisham, Criminal District Attorney, Canton, and Leon Douglas, State’s Attorney, Austin, for the state.

Opinion:
McDonald, judge
The conviction is for unlawfully carrying a pistol; the punishment, a fine of $100.
Both complaint and the information charge that appellant did unlawfully carry "on or about" his person a pistol.
Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the complaint and the information and points out that because the offense is alleged therein in the disjunctive the court erred in refusing to dismiss the prosecution.
A complaint and an information charging that the accused did carry on or about his person a pistol render such allegation uncertain and the complaint and the information defective because of the use of the word "or" rather than the word "and."
An information alleging that the defendant did carry on "or" about his person a pistol is bad, for the reason that it is uncertain in that the allegation is in the alternative. Branch's Ann. P.C., 2d Edition, Sec. 975, and cases collated therein; Jackson v. State, 165 Tex. Cr. R. 302, 306 S.W. 2d 899, and Scott v. State, 153 Tex. Cr. R. 492, 221 S.W. 2d 608.
Because of the insufficiency of the complaint and the information, the judgment is reversed and the prosecution ordered dismissed.