(DOWNLOAD) "Robert Donnie Green v. State Texas" by Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas No. 483-90 " Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Robert Donnie Green v. State Texas
- Author : Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas No. 483-90
- Release Date : January 22, 1992
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
Opinion ON APPELLANT'S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW Appellant seeks to set aside his murder conviction because the trial
court refused to give an instruction pertaining to a mistake of law defense.1 He claims that the Fort Worth Court of Appeals
improperly decided that he was not entitled to the instruction when it held that appellant was relying on his belief that
he was acting in self defense instead of on his understanding of a 1873 United States Supreme Court opinion. See Green v.
State, 785 S.W.2d 955 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth 1990). We will affirm. At trial, Appellant relied on dicta from an old United States Supreme Court opinion, Taylor v. Taintor, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.)
366, 21 L. Ed. 287 (1873), as a basis for his belief that a surety possessed the same authority and powers of arrest as a
similarly situated peace officer. Based on this reliance, Appellant argues that a mistake of law instruction was necessary.
This 1873 United States Supreme Court opinion interpreted the contractual liability of a bondsman for a principal who failed
to appear. It is true that this opinion did state that under Connecticut common law sureties had the right to arrest principals
without an arrest warrant and likened such right to that of a sheriff arresting an escaping prisoner. Id. at 371.