(Download) "Ruben v. Colunga v. State Texas" by The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Ruben v. Colunga v. State Texas
- Author : The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
- Release Date : January 31, 1972
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 53 KB
Description
The State urges that the witness Feliciana Martinez was not an accomplice witness as a matter of law and, therefore, her testimony need not be corroborated by non-accomplice testimony as required by Art. 38.14, V.A.C.C.P. The record reflects that the witness was present at the planning of the crime. The witness, appellant and their companions who entered the store and committed the murder and robbery all went to the scene of the crime in the same automobile. Feliciana Martinez and appellant waited for their companions in the getaway car until the crime was committed. The witness received a share of the fruits of the crime, however, slight they may have been. Certainly, there was evidence that the witness Martinez was an accomplice. At the very least, there was evidence which would have required submission of the fact question of whether she was an accomplice witness in the courts charge to the jury. It follows that we cannot say, as a matter of law, that the witness was not an accomplice. Further, the trial court having charged the jury that Feliciana Martinez was an accomplice as a matter of law, such instruction became the law under which the jury was required to decide the case. For this court to consider the case on the basis that Feliciana Martinez was not an accomplice witness would be placing us in the position of reviewing the case on appeal upon a premise different from that upon which it was submitted to the jury.
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