Court Opinion

ID: 9666221
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:08:06.136936+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:24.976541
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
MORRISON, Judge.
The appellant again contends that the indictment charging him with negligent homicide in the second degree is fatally defective for the failure to clearly allege essential elements of the offense. Specifically, appellant urges that the indictment did not allege that the offense occurred within the territorial limits of the city of Dallas, that there was no allegation that the traffic light was located within the city of Dallas, and that there was no allegation of violation of an ordinance of the city of Dallas.
The pertinent portion of the indictment charging the unlawful act states that appellant “was in the performance of an unlawful act, to wit, driving and operating a motor vehicle, to wit, an automobile in violation of and failing to obey a red traffic signal * * * lawfully existing and erected by the city of Dallas, a municipal corporation.”
The above quoted language clearly charges that the offense took place in the city of Dallas, and that the traffic light was lawfully erected within the corporate limits of the city of Dallas because such city had no “lawful” authority to erect traffic control devices except within its corporate boundaries. The city of Dallas, a municipal corporation, had authority by virtue of Article 6701d, Section 31(a), Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St., to place and maintain such traffic control devices within its jurisdiction, and violations thereof were made punishable by the provisions of Article 6701d, Section 143, supra. It was not necessary for the indictment to allege that this prosecution was predicated upon the violation of a city ordinance.
Appellant’s motion for rehearing is overruled.