Opinion
No. 12459.
Delivered February 20, 1929.
Operating Pool Hall — Prosecution on Information Alone — Not Proper Practice.
When a prosecution is had in a county court upon an information filed by the county attorney, which is not based on a sworn complaint the prosecution cannot stand. See Art. 415 C. C. P. 1925; Branch's Ann. P. C. p. 269, sec. 520 and cases cited.
Appeal from the County Court of Tom Green County. Tried below before the Hon. J. T. Mathison, Judge.
Appeal from a conviction for operating a pool hall; penalty, a fine of $25.00.
The opinion states the case.
No brief filed for appellant.
A. A. Dawson of Canton, State's Attorney, for the State.
The offense is operating a pool hall denounced by Art. 653, P. C., 1925; penalty fixed at a fine of $25.00.
The trial took place in the county court upon an information filed by the county attorney. A prosecution upon an information is authorized only when the information is based upon a sworn complaint. See Art. 415, C. C. P., 1925. In the absence of the complaint, the prosecution cannot stand. The judgment of conviction is reversed and the prosecution ordered dismissed. Branch's Ann. Tex. P. C., p. 269, sec. 520; Compton v. State, 158 S.W. 515; McDonald v. State, 216 S.W. 166; Thomas v. State, 298 S.W. 590; Art. 415, Vernon's Ann. Tex. C. C. P., 1925, Vol. 1, 1928 Annual. Pocket Part, p. 23, note 5.
Reversed and dismissed.