Opinion
No. 22000.
Delivered March 11, 1942.
1. — Complaint — Alternative Averments.
Complaint, charging that defendant carried "on or about" his person knuckles made of metal and a hard substance, to-wit: shot, held fatally defective as charging the offense in the alternative instead of the conjunctive.
2. — Unlawfully Carrying Knuckles — Fine.
Where the lowest fine prescribed under the statute, prohibiting the carrying of arms, was $100.00, a fine of $10.00, for unlawfully carrying knuckles, was error.
Appeal from County Court of Wichita County. Hon. Guy H. McNeely, Judge.
Appeal from conviction, under a plea of guilty, for unlawfully carrying knuckles; penalty, fine of $10.00.
Reversed, and prosecution ordered dismissed.
The opinion states the case.
Phillip S. Kouri, of Whichita Falls, for appellant.
Spurgeon E. Bell, State's Attorney, of Austin, for the State.
Appellant was charged with unlawfully carrying knuckles, and, under a plea of guilty before the court, was fined the sum of $10.00.
The complaint is fatally defective in that it charges that appellant did carry on or about his person knuckles made of metal and a hard substance, to-wit: shot, thus charging this offense in the alternative instead of the conjunctive. See Branch's Penal Code, p. 556, Sec. 967, and authorities there cited.
We are also unable to see how a fine of $10.00 could be assessed under a charge of unlawfully carrying arms, the lowest fine mentioned in Art. 483, P. C., denouncing such offense, being $100.00.
On account of the defect in the complaint, this cause is reversed and the prosecution ordered dismissed.