Case Name: LENOX v. STATE
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1941-06-11
Citations: 152 S.W.2d 342
Docket Number: No. 21642
Parties: LENOX v. STATE.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 152
Pages: 342–342

Head Matter:
LENOX v. STATE.
No. 21642.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
June 11, 1941.
Reginald Bracewell, of Huntsville, for appellant.
Spurgeon E. Bell, State’s Atty., of Austin, for the State.

Opinion:
BEAUCPIAMP, Judge.
Appellant was tried on a charge of maintaining a common nuisance and assessed ninety days in jail with a fine of $100.
Appellant timely moved to quash the complaint and information on the ground that it failed to charge an offense against the law. It is alleged also that the charges are in the disjunctive in that it is alleged that appellant was keeping a place " where intoxicating liquor, to wit, beer and whiskey was kept, possessed and sold or given away It further sets out that the complaint and information failed to negative the fact that appellant did not have a license to sell intoxicants. It charges the many items which the statute prohibits and we would be unable to know which offense the appellant would be called on to defend. A guilty man might be in position to choose the one, but our laws presume him to be innocent. The charge must be specific. We think the motion should have been granted. Carr v. State, 132 Tex.Cr.R. 438, 104 S.W.2d 866; Commander v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 143 S.W.2d 953.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed and the prosecution ordered dismissed.