Case Name: Ex parte DAVIS
Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Jurisdiction: Texas
Decision Date: 1913-10-29
Citations: 160 S.W. 459
Docket Number: 
Parties: Ex parte DAVIS.
Judges: 
Reporter: South Western Reporter
Volume: 160
Pages: 459–462

Head Matter:
Ex parte DAVIS.
(Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.
Oct. 29, 1913.)
1. Criminal Law (§ 1210 ) — Sentence—Cumulative Sentence.
Where the court does not order in its judgment that two of more sentences in different prosecutions shall be cumulative, as permitted by Code Cr. Proc. 1911, art. 862, the terms of imprisonment run concurrently.
[Ed. Note. — Eor other cases, see Criminal Law, Cent. Dig. §§ 3298-3301, 3315; Dec. Dig. § 1210. ]
2. Cbiminal Law (§ 1211 ) — Sentences—Cumulative Sentences.
Under Code Cr. Proc. 1911, art. 862, providing that, where defendant has been convicted in two or more cases, and ordered confined in the penitentiary or county jail, judgment shall be pronounced in each ease as if there had been but one conviction, except that judgment in the second conviction shall be that punishment shall begin when the sentence in the preceding conviction has ceased to operate, the second or subsequent sentence, which is cumulative, may be a jail sentence for a misdemeanor.
[Ed. Note. — Eor other cases, see Criminal Law, Cent. Dig. § 3302; Dec. Dig. § 1211. ]
3. Criminal Law (§ 1210 ) — Sentence—Cumulative Sentences.
Accused was arrested and charged with theft and burglary, and at his examining trial for burglary on June ISth was bound over and remanded to jail in default of giving bond, and on June 20th was convicted of theft, and sentenced to four months in the county jail. Code Cr. Proc. 1911, art. 862, provides that, when defendant is convicted in several cases, and sentenced to the penitentiary or confined in the county jail, judgment shall be rendered in each case as if there had been but one conviction, except that judgment in the subsequent conviction shall be that the punishment begin when sentence in the preceding conviction has ceased to operate. Held, that the time accused was in jail after his conviction for theft and commitment until he was tried and sentenced to the penitentiary for burglary should be considered as a part of the four months’ jail sentence, since the sentence for theft could not be cumulated, because there had then been no prior conviction.
[Ed. Note. — For other eases, see Criminal Law, Cent. Dig. §§ 3298-3301, 3315; Dec. Dig. § 1210.*)
Prendergast, P. J., dissenting.
Appeal from District Court, Nacogdoches County; L. D. Guinn, Judge.
Habeas corpus proceedings by Josh Davis. From a judgment remanding relator to custody, he appeals.
Reversed and remanded, with directions to discharge relator from custody.
A. T. Russell and J. A. Spears, both of Nacogdoches, for appellant. C. E. Lane, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State.
For other cases see same topic and section NUMBER in Dec. Dig. & Am. Dig. Key-No. Series & Rep’r Indexes

Opinion:
HARPER, J.
It appears from the record that in June, 1910, appellant was arrested, charged with theft and burglary. It is not apparent from the record whether he was first arrested on the charge of theft or burglary; the only dates being given are that he had an examining trial for burglary on June 18, 1910, and was tried in the county court on a charge of theft on June 20, 1910, and, as the law gives 'him two days after arrest before trial, it would appear that he had been arrested on the theft charge at least two days prior thereto. So, from the record before us, it reasonably appears that the arrests were contemporaneous or nearly so. At the examining trial, held on the 18th of June, 1910, he was bound over to await the action of the grand jury; his bond being fixed at $200, in default of which he was remanded to jail. Two days later he was adjudged guilty of theft, and his punishment fixed at four months in jail and a fine of $10. Relator has paid the $10 fine and all costs incurred. So the only question to determine is whether the time from and after' his conviction for theft and commitment to jail until he was tried and- sentenced to the penitentiary shall be computed as a part of the four months' imprisonment assessed against him.
The contention of the state is that, as appellant was held on a charge of burglary in default of bond, the time he served until his trial and conviction for burglary should not be counted, while the contention of relator is that it should be counted, for, if he had given bond in the burglary case, the state would not have released him from jail, as he was also committed to jail for a four months' sentence on the conviction for theft. Article 862 of the Code of Criminal Procedure reads: "When the same defendant has been convicted in two or more cases, and the punishment assessed in each case is confinement in the penitentiary or the county jail for a term of imprisonment, judgment and sentence shall be rendered and pronounced in each case in the same manner as if there had been but one conviction, except that the judgment in the second and subsequent convictions shall be that the punishment shall begin when the judgment and sentence in the preceding conviction have ceased to operate, and the sentence and execution thereof shall be accordingly."
Prior to the adoption of this article of the Code it was held by our Supreme Court, in the case of Prince v. State, 44 Tex. 480, that the courts had no authority to cumulate the penalty and have one sentence begin at the expiration of another, but that they run concurrently, and this has always been the rule in this state. Hannahan v. State, 7 Tex. App. 664; Baker v. State, 11 Tex. App. 262. So it is by virtue of this provision of the Code that courts in this state can order a cumulative term, and that one term of imprisonment shall begin at the expiration of another, and, in case the court does not so order in his final judgment, the terms run concurrently. Ex parte Hunt, 28 Tex. App. 361, 13 S. W. 145; Ex parte Cox, 29 Tex. App. 84, 14 S. W. 396.
It has also been held that this provision of the Code applies as well to misdemeanors as to felonies (Stewart v. State, 37 Tex. Cr. R. 135, 38 S. W. 1143; Ex parte Cox, 29 Tex. App. 84, 14 S. W. 396; Ex parte Hunt, 28 Tex. App. 361, 13 S. W. 145), and we see no good reason why, if a person is convicted of a felony, and sentenced to a term of years in the penitentiary, and subsequently tried and convicted of a misdemeanor, and his punishment assessed at imprisonment in the county jail, the court could not order that the latter should begin after the expiration of the former. Certainly the Code is broad enough in its terms to embrace such construction, and seems by its very terms to so state, and we see no good reason to give it the narrow or more restricted construction given it by our Presiding Judge in his opinion affirming the judgment. But the decision of this question is not necessary to a disposition of this case. At the time appellant was committed to jail on conviction for theft he had been convicted of no offense, and served in jail for three months before he was tried. To admit that appellant was in jail charged with a felony, but not yet tried, and while-undergoing such confinement he is taken out and tried for a misdemeanor, and his punishment fixed at imprisonment in the county jail, the court in its judgment orders him committed to jail as of that date to begin the service of time fixed by the judgment, and the fact that he was in jail on a charge of felony would not and could not deter the time of beginning the term of service under the judgment of the county court under which he is then committed to jail, and from confinement therein he would not be entitled to release, even though he gave bond in the felony charge. In the case of Lockhart v. State, 29 Tex. App. 36, 13 S. W. 1012, it was held by this court that, even though the judgment stated the punishment or sentence was to begin in -future, this would be error, if the record did not affirmatively show that there had been a prior conviction, and this sentence ordered to begin at the expiration of the first.
In this case there is no contention that there had been a prior conviction, but only that a complaint had been filed against him, on which he was bound over to the grand jury, and certainly this fact would not postpone the judgment in the county court until he was tried some time in the future for burglary. No prior conviction having been had at the time he was convicted of theft, the court would have been powerless to order a cumulative penalty; but it did not attempt to do so, and this court will not do so, when the trial court did not so order.
As appellant served some 3 montlas and 13 days in jail prior to bis trial and conviction for burglary, and since bis discharge from the penitentiary be has served in jail more than 17 days in addition to the time served before his conviction, be is entitled to be discharged, and the cause is reversed and remanded, with instructions that he be discharged from custody.