Court Opinion

ID: 9684201
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:50:31.357721+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:54.017300
License: Public Domain

DOUGLAS, Judge,
concurring.
For many years, this Court has followed the rule that statements made by one while under arrest are not admissible even though they were not the result of custodial interrogation. See Butler v. State, 493 S.W.2d 190 (Tex.Cr.App.1973) and Garner v. State, 464 S.W.2d 111 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). These cases and many of their predecessors have been uniformly followed. Under such decisions, the result of this case is correct. The majority notes that after so many years of uniform statutory construction the Legislature and not this Court should change the rule.
Apparently, the Legislature has done that, because Tex.Laws 1977, ch. 348, Sec. 5, at 936, amending Article 38.22, V.A.C.C.P. (effective August 29, 1977) has rendered inoperative the statutory construction in the Butler and Garner cases.
Section 5 of Article 38.22, as amended, now provides:
“Nothing in this article precludes the admission of a statement made by the accused in open court at his trial, before a grand jury, or at an examining trial in compliance with Articles 16.03 and 16.04 of this code, or of a statement that is the res gestae of the arrest or of the offense, or of a statement that does not stem from custodial interrogation, or of a voluntary statement, whether or not the result of custodial interrogation, that has a bearing upon the credibility of the accused as a witness, or of any other statement that may be admissible under law.” (Emphasis added.)
Since lawyers and trial judges have relied upon our previous holdings for so many years, this writer will follow those cases until cases are tried under the new provisions of Article 38.22, Sec. 5, supra.