Case Name: WYATT v. STATE
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1923-03-07
Citations: 248 S.W. 1076
Docket Number: No. 7526
Parties: WYATT v. STATE.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter
Volume: 248
Pages: 1076–1076

Head Matter:
WYATT v. STATE.
(No. 7526.)
(Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
March 7, 1923.)
Criminal law <®=^796 — For sale before amendment of Dean Law was in effect, defendant entitled to submission of suspended sentence.
One charged with manufacturing intoxicating liquor after passage of the Dean Law (Vernon’s Ann. Pen. Code Supp. 1922, art. 588% et seq.), and before its amendment became effective November 15, 1921, was entitled to trial under the law in force at the alleged time of the offense, and so to have the question of a suspended sentence submitted to the jury’s consideration, though he was more than 25 years old.
Appeal from District Court, Newton County; V. H. Stark, Judge.
Alzaria Wyatt was convicted of manufacturing intoxicating liquor, and appeals.
Reversed and remanded.
J i B. Forse, of Newton, and G. E. Richardson, of Jasper, for appellant.
R. G. Storey, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.

Opinion:
HAWKINS, J.
Upon conviction for manufacturing intoxicating liquor, appellant's punishment was fixed át one year's imprisonment in the penitentiary.
This is the second time the case has been before us - for review. Our former opinion will be found reported in 91 Tex. Cr. R. 299, 238 S. W. 665. The indictment alleged the date of the offense to have been December 27, 1920. The evidence confirms this as the true date. Before announcing ready for trial, appellant filed a written instrument advising the court that he elected to be tried under the law as it was in December, 1920. An application for suspended sentence was filed and proof made thereunder requiring its submission. The learned trial judge declined to submit it on the ground that appellant was more than 25 years of age, believing section 2d of the Acts of the 37th Leg., 1st Called Session, p. 233 (Vernon's Ann. Pen. Code Supp. 1922, art. 58S% et seq.), amending the liquor law, would apply. In this the court was in error. After the passage of what is known as the Dean Law and up to the time said amendment became effective, parties accused of the violation of its provisions were entitled to the benefit of the suspended sentence regardless of their age. Plachy v. State, 91 Tex. Cr. R. 405, 239 S. W. 979; Brown v. State (Tex Cr. App.) 242 S. W. 218; Phillips v. State (Tex. Cr. App.) 244 S. W. 146; Wimberly v. State Tex. Cr. App.) 245 S. W. 431; Ennis v. State (Tex. Cr. App.) 245 S. W. 435; Cortinas v. State (Tex. Cr. App.) 245 S. W. 911. For violations thereof occurring after November 15, 1921 — that being the date upon which the amendments of the Thirty-Seventh Legislature became effective — parties over 25 years of age were deprived of the suspended sentence. Appellant should have been tried under the law in operation at the date of the alleged offense, and thereunder had the right to have the question of a suspended sentence submitted for the jury's decision, although he was more than 25 years of age.
The judgment must therefore be reversed, and the cause remanded.
—.TVnr otfier cases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes