Riley Hopson - bigamy

Dallas Morning News

Saturday, June 28, 1930

Bigamy in Another State Not Bigamy in Texas, Is Ruling Made by High Court

Austin, Texas June 27 (AP) - Under a ruling issued Friday by the Court of Criminal Appeals in its final session of the term, it was held that a person may not be tried in Texas for bigamy if the bigamous marriage was contracted in another State. 

The opinion was given in ruling on the case of Riley Hopson, convicted in Wichita County on a charge of bigamy and sentenced to serve two years. The court held that the only charge Hopson could be tried on was adultery. 

The dissenting opinion was written in the case by Judge O. S. Lattimore, who stated: “The proper decision of this case becomes of more importance for that it is one of the first impression in Texas. I think the opinion adopts an interpretation of the law which however unintentional may lead to the establishment of a precedent of grievously hurtful consequences and it may be used to give lawbreakers a free hand and put society at the mercy of freebooters abroad on our social seas in this day of much talk of increasing sexual crime.”

The opinion in the case was written by Judge Frank Hawkins and concurred in by Judge W. C. Morrow Chief Justice of the Criminal Judiciary. 

According to the transcript in the case, Hopson married Louise Allison at Davidson, Ok., April 22, 1927, while he had another wife still living. It was further alleged he brought her to Wichita County and that they lived as man and wife. 

In his opinion, Judge Hawkins stated the Texas statute did not provide that the living together within this State after a bigamous marriage elsewhere was a specific criminal offense. 

At the trial of the case, the State contended that cohabitation constituted common law marriage but the opinion of Judge Hawkins held that a common law marriage can not be consummated where either of the contracting parties had a lawful spouse living. Judge Hawkins expressed the opinion that Hopkins could be tried in Oklahoma on a charge of bigamy but that the greatest criminal offense with which he could be charged in Texas was adultery, since the relations between the two were adulterous and not bigamous.