Case Name: PETITTE v. STATE
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1929-06-12
Citations: 21 S.W.2d 522
Docket Number: No. 12648
Parties: PETITTE v. STATE.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 21
Pages: 522–523

Head Matter:
PETITTE v. STATE.
(No. 12648.)
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
June 12, 1929.
State’s Rehearing Denied Nov. 13, 1929.
J. D. Pickett,, of Palestine, for appellant.
A. A. Dawson, State’s Atty., of Austin, for the State.

Opinion:
CHRISTIAN, J.
The offense is murder; the punishment, confinement in the penitentiary for 15 years.
It appears that the trial took place before a special judge. The statute requires that before a special judge shall enter upon his duties he shall take the oath of office required by the Constitution, and his selection and the fact that the oath of office has been administered to him shall be entered upon the minutes of the court as part of the record in the cause. Articles 555 and 556, O. C. P. No oath of office is embraced in the transcript. That it is essential that the oath of office be taken and that the record reveal it is thé announcement of the decisions of this court. Sewell v. State (Tex. Cr. App.) 291 S. W. 549; McLemore v. State, 107 Tex. Cr. R. 408, 296 S. W. 552; Blanks v. State, 105 Tex. Cr. R. 341, 288 S. W. 452; Harris v. State, 105 Tex. Cr. R. 342, 288 S. W. 450; Norman v. State, 102 Tex. Cr. R. 5, 277 S. W. 126, 127; Salazar v. State, 102 Tex. Cr. R. 189, 276 S. W. 1105; Dawes v. State, 87 Tex. Cr. R. 452, 222 S. W. 560; Reed v. State, 55 Tex Cr. R. 137, 114 S. W. 834; Weatherford v. State (Tex. Cr. App.) 28 S. W. 814; Smith v. State, 24 Tex. App. 290, 6 S. W. 40.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.
PER CURIAM. The foregoing opinion of the Commission of Appeals has been examined by the judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals and approved by the court.