Court Opinion

ID: 9761340
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:39:20.250605+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:22.406253
License: Public Domain

DISSENTING OPINION
MORRISON, Judge.
Officer Lewis testified that he found one pill on appellant’s person at the time of his arrest. Appellant, testifying in his own behalf, denied that he had any such pill in his possession or that the arresting officer had found the same on his person at the time of the arrest.
The issue thus became clearly drawn as to who the jury were to believe.
The State, through the prosecutor conducting the case, offered the testimony that appellant’s reputation for truth and veracity was bad. We will not pause here to comment upon the propriety of a lawyer becoming a witness in a case in which he is an advocate because here the prosecutor in his argument added the following:
“People know he (the appellant) is a habitual liar. I know this personally.”
In his argument, the prosecutor went much further than he went in his testimony, and at a time when he could not have even cross examined. Therein lies the grossness of this error.
Louis v. State, 150 Tex.Cr.R. 488, 202 S.W.2d 679, cited by the State and adopted in the majority as authority for affirming this conviction cannot be held to be authoritative here because according to the record in such case the court did all that was requested of him when he instructed the jury not to consider the unsworn testimony of the prosecutor. The record in Louis reflects that no motion for mistrial was made and it has long been the rule in this State that an appellant must continue to object until he gets an adverse ruling of the court. See Baker v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 368 S.W.2d 627.
Here a motion for mistrial was made and under the holding of this Court in Woodard v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 368 S.W.2d 623; Shelton v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 367 S.W.2d 867, and Puckett v. State, 168 Tex.Cr.R. 615, 330 S.W.2d 465, I conclude that error is reflected and respectfully dissent.