Case Name: Lee JOHNSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1957-10-09
Citations: 305 S.W.2d 603
Docket Number: No. 29141
Parties: Lee JOHNSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter Second Series
Volume: 305
Pages: 603–604

Head Matter:
Lee JOHNSON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
No. 29141.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
Oct. 9, 1957.
No appearance for appellant.
Leon B. Douglas, State’s Atty., Austin, for the State.

Opinion:
DAVIDSON, Judge.
This is a fondling case; the punishment, twenty-five years in the penitentiary.
The prosecutrix, six years of age, did not testify. The trial court determined that she was not a competent witness because she did not know and understand the nature of an oath.
The state relied for a conviction, primarily, upon the written confession of the appellant wherein he admitted facts sufficient to authorize his conviction.
The mother of the prosecutrix testified to facts sufficient to corroborate the confession and establish the corpus delicti.
The facts are deemed sufficient to authorize the conviction.
Neither formal nor informal bills of exception were reserved.
Inasmuch as it appears that the trial court failed to apply the provisions of the indeterminate sentence law, the sentence is reformed, under the authority of Studer v. State, 159 Tex.Cr.R. 598, 265 S.W.2d 833, so as to fix appellant's punishment at not less than one hour nor more than twenty-five years in the penitentiary.
As reformed, the judgment is affirmed.