Court Opinion

ID: 9638176
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:36:44.948155+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:04.570740
License: Public Domain

ODOM, Judge,
dissenting.
Because the majority opinion ignores established law, I must dissent.
V.T.C.A., Penal Code Sec. 46.05 is entitled “Unlawful Possession of Firearm by Felon” and provides in part:
“(a) A person who has been convicted of a felony involving an act of violence or threatened violence to a person or property commits an offense if he possesses a firearm away from the premises where he lives.”
Although Section 46.05 authorizes conviction for threatened violence, only actual violence to property was alleged in the indictment. The State introduced appellant’s pen packet to prove his prior felony conviction for arson. The arson indictment alleges appellant did “intentionally and knowingly start a fire in a building ... with intent to damage and destroy said building.” The conviction records in the pen packet do not indicate whether the building was actually harmed or damaged and the State did hot offer any evidence as to the circumstances surrounding the commission of the prior offense.
The State asserts that the offense of arson should be held to be in the same category of offenses as robbery by assault which is a felony involving violence or threatened violence as a matter of law. Scott v. State, 571 S.W.2d 893, 895. Not all felonies, however, involve an act of vio*122lence or threatened violence as a matter of law. For instance, rape and burglary are not felonies involving violence as a matter of law. Ex parte Eldridge, 572 S.W.2d 716; Tew v. State, 551 S.W.2d 375. The State must prove the offense involved.an act of violence or threatened violence by offering evidence as to the circumstances surrounding the offense when the alleged offense does not consist of an act of violence as a matter of law. Schutz v. State, 646 S.W.2d 224.
Violence is commonly defined as the exertion of any physical force so as to injure, damage or abuse. Robinson v. State, 67 Tex.Cr.R. 79, 149 S.W. 186, 187; Alexander v. State, 40 Tex.Cr.R. 395, 50 S.W. 716, 717. See also Black’s Law Dictionary, Violence (rev. 5th ed. 1979). Since the State did not allege “threatened violence” to property in the indictment, some type of actual violence must have been proven. The elements of arson under V.T.C.A., Penal Code Sec. 28.02, do not require harm or threatened harm to property. The offense of arson is complete when the actor starts a fire with the intent to destroy or damage the building whether or not damage of any kind actually occurs. Beltran v. State, 593 S.W.2d 688. It was incumbent upon the State to prove the circumstances surrounding the conviction for arson to demonstrate that some type of violence did occur. Arson does not involve violence to property as a matter of law. Because the majority opinion ignores this rule of law, I must dissent.
CLINTON and TEAGUE, JJ., join this dissent.