Citations
- 308 S.W.2d 43
Full opinion text
MORRISON, Presiding Judge.
In the above styled and numbered causes, the same legal questions are raised by the appellant. The cases will be disposed of in one opinion.
The appellant plead guilty before the court to the offenses of possession of whiskey and wine in a dry area for the purpose of sale and two cases of illegal sale of intoxicants, and her punishment was assessed at a fine of $100 in each case.
Thereafter, appellant filed a motion for new trial alleging, among other things, '(1) that she did not waive the two days within which to prepare for trial, (2) that she did' not waive a jury, and (3) that she had a “good defense that would probably result in an acquittal in a trial before a jury.”
A lengthy statement of facts on the motion for new trial appears in the record, and wc will attempt to give a brief summary thereof. The appellant testified that she was arrested with a load of whiskey on March 20 and carried to the courthouse, where she 'talked to the county attorney (who was the appellant’s attorney in certain civil matters), that the county attorney told her that the judge was out of town but that he would recommend to the judge that he assess the minimum punishment in each of three cases which had been filed against her upon her entering pleas of guilty when the court returned, that she gave the county attorney a check to cover all the fines, and she was instructed to return the following day to go before the court. According to the testimony of the appellant and her employee, who appears as the appellant in two companion cases (our numbers 29,225 and 29,226), Grimes v. State, 308 S.W.2d 45, they went to the courthouse the following day and went before the judge; they deny that the judge told them that they were allowed two days in which to prepare for trial or that they waived a trial by jury, but admitted having entered pleas of guilty.
The county attorney testified' that the judge asked the two women if they wanted to waive a jury and be tried before the court and that each of them stated that they wanted to be tried before the court and then entered their guilty pleas. He did not remember hearing the judge notify the two women that they were entitled under the law to two days within which to prepare for trial but, stated that the women did not request any delay before being called upon t