E TTOENEEU GENEOFTE~AS 

September 19, 1961 

Honorable Guilford L. Jones 

District Attorney 

County Courthouse 

Big Spring, Texas 

Opinion No. WW-1143 

Re: Whether in a jury wheel 

county, where the court 

has granted a motion for 

a special venire in a 

capital case, and where 

the venire as drawn from 

the wheel, is exhausted, 

additional veniremen are 

drawn.from the wheel, or 

are summoned as talesmen 

Dear Mr. Jones: by the sheriff? 

part as 

Your request 

follows: 

for the opinion of this office reads in 

"In a jury wheel county, where the court had 

granted a motion for a special venire in a capital 

case, and where the venire as drawn from the wheel, 

is exhausted, are additional veniremen drawn from 

the wheel, or are they summoned as talesmen by the 

sheriff? 

"This case seems to be governed by Article 596 

C.C.P. It is the opinion of the undersigned that 

the words 'and upon such refusal' in Article 601-A 

limits this Statute in its application to those 

cases where the court has refused a motion for 

special venire. 

"In Coy v. State 2S8 SW2d '782, the court held 

that additional veniremen should have been drawn 

from the wheel. In Moon v. State 331 SW2d 312, 

the court indicates that Coy is no longer the law 

and that 601-A now requires talesmen to be selected 

by the sheriff." 

Article 601-A, V.C.C.P., was amended in Chapter 327, Acts 

of the 55th Legislature, R.S., 1957. 
Honorable Guilford L. Jones, Page 2 WV-1143 1 

It now reads as follows: 

"In all counties of this State where jurors 

in either civil or criminal cases are drawn from 

a jury wheel as is now provided or may hereafter 

be provided by law and where as many as one 

hundred (100) jurors have been summoned in such 

county for regular service for the week in which 

such capital case is set for trial, the Judge of 

the Court having jurisdiction of a capital case 

in which a motion for a special venire has been 

made, shall grant or refuse such motion for a 

special venire and upon such refusal require the 

case to be tried by regular jurors summoned for 

service in such county for regular service for 

the week in which such capital case is set for 

trial and such additional talesmen as may be 

summoned by the Sheriff upon order of the Court 

as provided in Article 596 of the Code of 

Criminal Procedure, but the Clerk of such Court 

shall furnish the defendant or his counsel a list 

of the persons summoned for jury service for such 

week upon application therefor." 

The amendatory Act in 1957 recited in finding that an 

emergency existed: 

"The fact that confusion exists over the 

proper method of selecting jurors in capital 

criminal cases and the need forthislegislation 

for the speedy administration of justice create 

an emergency. D 0" 

Article 596, V.C.C.P., reads as follows: 

"On failure from any cause to select a jury 

from those summoned upon the special venire, the 

court shall order the sheriff to summon any number 

of .men that it may deem advfsable, for the formation of the jury*" 

If a special venfre is exhausted, the Sheriff is to be 

sent for talesmen. Art. 596, V.C,C.P. 

If a special venire is refused, in a county to which 

Article 601-A, V.C,C,P. applies, the jury shall be chosen from 

among the: 

11 0 0 0 regular jurors summoned for service in 
Honorable Guilford L. Jones, Page 3 (WW-1143) 

such county for regular service for the week 

in which such capital case is set for trial 

11 a . 0 

If these jurors are exhausted, Art. 601-A, V.C.C.P. 

provides that talesmen shall be summoned as provided in Art. 

596 V.C.C.P. 

It follows that in a capitaicase in a jury wheel 

county, when the first panel of jurors is exhausted, whether 

drawn as a special venire or from regular sources, the procedure 

to be followed is as set forth in Art. 596, that is, that the 

sheriff should summon such additional talesmen as are needed 

to complete the jury. 

1960.) 

Moon v. State, 331 S0W.2d 312 (Tex.Crim. 

SUMMARY 

JEL/br 

In a jury wheel county, where the court has 

granted a motion for a special venire in a 

capital case, and where the venire as drawn 

from the wheel, is exhausted, additional veniremen are tom be summoned as talesmen by the sheriff. 

Sincerely yours, 

WILL WILSON 

FG 

John E. Leonarz 

Assistant Attorney General 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE: 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

Riley Eugene Fletcher 

J. C. Davis 

Sam Wilson 

Elmer McVey 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

By: ~Houghton Brownlee