Opinion
No. 17532.
Delivered April 17, 1935. Appeal Reinstated May 29, 1935.
1. — Appeal Dismissed — Appeal Bond.
Statutes require that appeal in felony conviction be dismissed where appeal bond was approved by sheriff alone; such appeal bond required to be approved by sheriff and trial judge.
ON THE MERITS.2. — Statement of Facts — Reporter.
Where, on appeal from conviction for theft of cattle, it appears that defendant in due time filed an affidavit of his inability to pay for a statement of facts or give security therefor, and trial court entered order granting application and directing court reporter to prepare and deliver same to defendant, failure of court reporter to comply with said order and transcribe testimony, thereby depriving defendant, without his fault, of a statement of facts, held to require reversal of conviction.
Appeal from the District Court of Wilson County. Tried below before the Hon. S.B. Carr, Judge.
Appeal from conviction for theft of cattle; penalty, confinement in penitentiary for two years.
Reversed and remanded.
The opinion states the case.
C.L. Patterson, of San Antonio, for appellant.
Lloyd W. Davidson, State's Attorney, of Austin, for the State.
Conviction is for theft of cattle, punishment being assessed at two years in the penitentiary.
The appeal bond is approved by sheriff only. Art. 818, C.C.P., requires such bond to be approved by both the sheriff and the trial judge. Because of such defective bond the appeal is dismissed. For authorities see Note No. 1 under Art. 818, Vernon's C.C.P., Vol. 3.
Appellant is granted fifteen days from this date in which to present a good and sufficient bond in compliance with the statute.
The appeal is dismissed.
ON THE MERITS.
The record having been perfected, the appeal is reinstated and the case considered on its merits.
Appellant was tried and convicted on the 19th day of November, 1934. The motion for a new trial was overruled on the 8th of December, 1934. On the 6th of December, 1934, appellant filed an affidavit stating that he was without money and unable to pay for a statement of facts or give security therefor. On the 8th of December, 1934, the trial judge entered an order granting the application and directing the court reporter to prepare a statements of facts and deliver same to appellant. This order was not complied with, and the record is before us without a statement of facts. It appears that it was not due to any fault of appellant that the record is in the condition in which we find it. Under the circumstances, we are constrained to order a reversal because he has been deprived of a statement of facts. Cline v. State, 77 S.W.2d 876; Banks v. State, 21 S.W.2d 517; Ballinger v. State, 8 S.W.2d 159; Langrum v. State, 78 S.W.2d 973.
The judgment is reversed and the cause remanded.
Reversed and 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.