Terms Used In Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 37.14

  • Acquittal:
    1. Judgement that a criminal defendant has not been proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
    2. A verdict of "not guilty."
     
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
  • Verdict: The decision of a petit jury or a judge.

If a defendant, prosecuted for an offense which includes within it lesser offenses, be convicted of an offense lower than that for which he is indicted, and a new trial be granted him, or the judgment be arrested for any cause other than the want of jurisdiction, the verdict upon the first trial shall be considered an acquittal of the higher offense; but he may, upon a second trial, be convicted of the same offense of which he was before convicted, or any other inferior thereto.