Case Name: Lee Godby v. The State
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1920-11-24
Citations: 88 Tex. Crim. 360
Docket Number: No. 5967
Parties: Lee Godby v. The State.
Judges: 
Reporter: Texas Criminal Reports
Volume: 88
Pages: 360–364

Head Matter:
Lee Godby v. The State.
No. 5967.
Decided November 24, 1920.
Rehearing granted January 12, 1921.
1. —Perjury—Recognizance—Practice on Appeal.
Where the recognizance failed to state the offense for which the appellant was convicted or the punishment assessed and was otherwise defective, the appeal must be dismissed, following Watson v. State, 62 Texas Crim. Rep., 620, and other cases; however, the proper recognizance having been filed thereafter, the case is considered on its merits.
2. —Same—Credible Witness—Corroboration—Statutes Construed—Accomplice.
Under Article 906, C. O. P., it is required that the falsity of the statement as the basis of the charge of perjury be sworn to by two credible witnesses or by one credible witness corroborated strongly by other evidence as to such falsity, and an accomplice is not a credible person under the decisions of this court. Following Conant v. State, 51 Texas Crim. Rep., 610, and other cases.
3. —Same—Case Stated—Insufficiency of the Evidence.
Where upon trial .of perjury, the main State’s witness was shown to have been an accomplice, and could not be considered a credible witness, and besides had a bad reputation for truth and veracity, this court is unable to bring itself to believe that there was before the trial court in the instant case, the testimony of one such credible witness to the falsity of the alleged perjured statement of defendant as is required by law, and the judgment must he reversed and the cause remanded.
Appeal from the District Court of Parker. Tried below before the Honorable F. O. McKinsey.
Appeal from a conviction of perjury; penalty, six years imprisonment in the penitentiary.
The opinion states the case.
John L. Poulter, Mays & Mays, Preston Martin and J. E. Carter, for appellant:
Cited Cox v. State, 13 Texas Crim. App., 479; Gabrielsky v. State, 13 id., 441; Hernandez v. State, 18 id., 151; Waters v. State, 30 id., 290; Kitchen v. State, 29 id., 45; Conant v. State, 51 Texas Crim. Rep., 610.
Alvin M. Ozvsley, Assistant Attorney General, for the State.

Opinion:
LATTIMORE, Judge.
Appellant was convicted in. the District Court of Parker County, of the offense of perjury, and his punishment fixed at six years confinement in the penitentiary.
Our Assistant Attorney-General moves to dismiss this appeal, because of a defective recognizance, and an examination of same discloses that the motion is well taken. The recognizance appearing on page 61 of the transcript does not state the offense for which appellant was convicted nor the punishment assessed and is otherwise not in the form prescribed by our statute and decisions. See Article 903, Vernon's Code of Criminal Procedure; Watson v. State, 62 Texas Crim. Rep., 620; White v. State, 68 Texas Crim. Rep., 147, 151 S. W. Rep., 826.
The motion of the State is sustained, and the appeal dismissed.
Dismissed.