Messages of Pat M. Neff, Governor of Texas to the thirty-seventh legislature Page: 17 of 36
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purchaser of the intoxicant. There is no good reason why the whole
facts of the case should not be submitted to the jury, and if the jury,
after weighing the credibility of all the witnesses, convict the defendant,
and the Court of Criminal Appeals should be satisfied that
the defendant had a fair and impartial trial, the law should not be
permitted to reverse the verdict. I therefore recommend that a law
be enacted as an amendment to the Dean Law providing that the verdict
of a jury, after hearing all the facts, shall not be set aside by any
technicality of the law as to the sufficiency of the evidence.
As a further subject for your consideration as a blended matter of
economy and effective enforcement of the law, it is my opinion that
prosecuting attorneys should not be permitted, as now provided by
law, to permit a defendant who is charged with a number of violations
of the law to plead guilty and, serve all his sentences concurrently,
and at the same time permit the prosecuting attorney to
charge as if the defendant had been tried and convicted in each case.
To illustrate: A defendant may be charged by fifteen indictments
for passing forged checks, or for stealing fifteen different automobiles,
and yet he can come into court and by an agreement plead
guilty to all of these, but the punishment is as if he had only plead
guilty in one case, the sentences being made to run concurrently.
Notwithstanding this easy method of disposing of all his cases, the law
permits the prosecuting attorney to collect fees in each of the cases.
rr appears to me that the State in a matter of this kind is paying out
entirely too much money for the results obtained. A law should be
passed correcting this extragavant and ineffective procedure.
Believing in the dignity, the majesty, and the sovereignty of the
law, and wishing to make more secure life, liberty and property in
Texas, I submit these suggestions to you gentlemen for your conscientious
consideration.
Yours sincerely,
PAT M. NEFF, Governor.Page Seventeen
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Neff, Pat M. Messages of Pat M. Neff, Governor of Texas to the thirty-seventh legislature, book, 1921; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth5871/m1/17/?rotate=90: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .