### In The C ou rt o f A p p ea ls Si x t h Appe l l at e Di st r i c t o f Te x as a t Te x ar ka na

______________________________ No . 0 6- 09 -0 00 33 -C R

______________________________ ERI C L AMOND D AVI S, Appellant

V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee
On Appea l from the 349th J udicial District Court

Houston County , Texas Trial Court No. 08-CR-123

B e f o r e M o r r i s s , C
. J. , C a

rt e r a n d M o s e l e y , JJ. Me mor a nd

um O pin ion

by Chi e f Jus tic e Mo rr issThis case was tra nsfer red to this Court from the Twelfth District Court of Appea ls in Ty ler 1 as par t of the Texas Suprem e C o u rt 's docket e qualization progr am. See T EX . G OV ' T C ODE ANN . § 73.001 (Ve rnon 2005). We ar e not awa re of any conflict between the prec edent of the Ty ler Court and the pr ece dent of this Court on any issue rele vant in this appeal. See T EX . R. A PP . P. 41.3. 2 MEMORANDUM OPI

NI ON Eric L amond Davis wa s on trial in Houston County for m u rd er . Af t er the first day

of 1 te sti mony , o ne of

the jur or s se rv ingin D a vis ' tr ia l w a s arr e ste d o n a ho t-check c ha

rg e pe nd ingin another county . Over

Davis' objection, the trial court rele ased the arr ested juror from further ser vice in this case, seated one of the two alter

nate juror s that had pre viously b ee n s elec ted, and ove rruled Davis' motion for mistrial. Fr om a m urder

conviction and a

life sentenc e, Davis appea ls, asserting that the trial cour t erre d in deny ing his motion for mis trial. We affir m the judgme nt, beca

use by statute an a lternate juror may repla ce a disqualified juror. I n his sole point of err or, Davis ar g ues that " statutes do not allow an alter nate juror to serve in place of

a disqualified juror ." We disag ree . Article 33.011 allows a trial court to select up to four alternate jurors to " repla ce jur ors who, prior to the time the jury rende rs a verdic t on the g uilt or innocenc e of the defe ndant . . . bec ome or are found to be una

ble or disqualif

ied to perf orm th eir du ti es . . . ." T EX . C ODE C R IM . P R OC . ANN . art 33.011(b) (Ve rnon Supp. 2008) (e mphasis added)
. A per son is disqualified from servingas a juror if he or she is under indictment or othe r leg al
acc usation for misdeme anor the ft or a f elony
. T EX . C ODE C R IM . P R OC . ANN . arts. 35.16, 35.193

(Ve rnon 2006). In this c ase, no one disputes that the disqualified juror was "unde r indictment or other leg al ac cusation for

misdemeanor the ft or fe lony " or that the alternate juror re place d the disqualified juror bef ore the verdic t. Accor dingly , once the arr ested juror was " found to be" disqualified, the trial court wa s require d to, and d i d , ex cuse he r fr om the jury
. See T EX . C ODE C R IM . P ROC ANN . a rt s. 35.16, 35.19. The court then appropriately repla ced her with an alternate juror. See T EX . C ODE C R IM . P R OC . ANN . art. 33.011(b) . The trial c ourt did not err. We o ve rr ule Da vis ' po int of e rr or a nd a ff ir m th e jud g me nt o f t

he tr ia l c ourt .

J o s h R
. M o r

r i s s , III Chief J ustice Date Submitted: September 15, 2009 Date D ecide d: September 18, 2009 Do No t Pu

bli sh