Case Name: Frutoso Villarreal v. State
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1958-11-05
Citations: 166 Tex. Crim. 616
Docket Number: No. 30,053
Parties: Frutoso Villarreal v. State.
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Criminal Reports
Volume: 166
Pages: 616–617

Head Matter:
Frutoso Villarreal v. State.
No. 30,053.
November 5, 1958.
No attorney for appellant of record on appeal.
Hubert W. Green, Jr., Criminal District Attorney, Victor H. Negron, Assistant Criminal District Attorney, San Antonio, and Leon Douglas, State’s Attorney, Austin, for the state.

Opinion:
BELCHER, Judge.
The indictment charges that the appellant wilfully failed to support his children under sixteeen years of age.
After submission of the case to a jury, it returned into open court the following verdict: We find the defendant guilty as charged in the indictment, and assess his punishment at confinement in the penitentiary for not more than two years.
The verdict was accepted and the jury discharged.
The judgment entered on the verdict recited that the appellant be punished by confinement in the state penitentiary for not more than two years.
The period of time required to be served as punishment by the accused cannot be ascertained. Both the verdict and the judgment are indefinite and uncertain. They are void under the rule announced in Ex parte Traxler, 147 Texas Cr. Rep. 661, 184 S.W. 2d 286; Edwards v. State, 153 Texas Cr. Rep. 301, 219 S.W. 2d 1022; Ex parte East, 154 Texas Cr. Rep. 123, 225 S.W. 2d 833; Ex parte Rowland, 155 Texas Cr. Rep. 435, 236 S.W. 2d 153; Kemp v. State, 159 Texas Cr. Rep. 110, 261 S.W. 2d 573; Ex parte Church, 163 Texas Cr. Rep. 357, 292 S.W. 2d 120; Ex parte Frazier, 164 Texas Cr. Rep. 572, 301 S.W. 2d 655; and Johnston v. State, (page 65, this volume), 311 S.W. 2d 823.
Because the verdict is insufficient to authorize a judgment of conviction to be entered thereon, the case is reversed and the cause remanded.
Opinion approved by the Court.