Case Name: Valentine Guerrera v. The State
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1939-01-25
Citations: 136 Tex. Crim. 411
Docket Number: No. 20029
Parties: Valentine Guerrera v. The State.
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Criminal Reports
Volume: 136
Pages: 411–413

Head Matter:
Valentine Guerrera v. The State.
No. 20029.
Delivered January 25, 1939.
Rehearing Denied March 8, 1939.
The opinion states the case.
Wade & Wade, of Beeville, for appellant.
Lloyd W. Davidson, State’s Attorney, of Austin, for the State.

Opinion:
Christian, Judge.
The offense is murder; the punishment, confinement in the penitentiary for 99 years.
It appears from bill of exception No. la that the court charged the jury on Sunday, March 6, 1938, at 1:50 P. M. Charging the jury is strictly a judicial act. Moss v. State, 173 S. W. 859. Courts have no right to pronounce a judgment, or do any other act strictly judicial, on Sunday, in the absence of a permissive statute. Bloss v. State, 75 S. W. (2d) 694; Shearman v. State, 1 Tex. App. 215. We have in this state no statute permitting the jury to be charged on Sunday. In Moss v. State, supra, the court said: "Charging the jury is a high judicial function, and it cannot be lawfully exercised on Sunday." We are constrained to hold that reversible error is presented.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.
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.