Court Opinion

ID: 9771832
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:55:00.843748+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:37.776062
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON STATE’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
PHILLIPS, Judge.
On original submission appellant’s conviction for the fraudulent substitution of price tags in violation of V.T.C.A., Penal Code, Section 32.47 was reversed because of a fatal variance between the allegations in the information charging the offense and the evidence introduced. Upon reconsideration of this case and the State’s motion for rehearing, we are convinced that the original disposition was correct. The State, in its motion for rehearing, confuses the issues at hand. They are correct in their assertion that the actual owner of the property on which the price tags were substituted or changed need not be alleged in the charging instrument. What the State fails to acknowledge, however, is that in this particular case they chose to make a “descriptive averment” as to who the “another” was, an essential averment. Having made a specific allegation, they were obligated to establish that allegation with proof. Roberts v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 513 S.W.2d 870; Easley v. State, 167 Tex.Cr.R. 156, 319 S.W.2d 325.
The general rule is that when the ownership of the property needs to be alleged and the property is owned by a corporation, the ownership should be alleged in the name of a natural person who fits within the definition of a special owner. See Roberts v. State, supra; Eaton v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 533 S.W.2d 33; Harriford v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 487 S.W.2d 351; Castillo v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 469 S.W.2d 572; Article 21.08, V.A.C.C.P. In the instant case, the Skaggs-Albertson Corporation owned the property. The corporation was the party injured. Murray Jackson was alleged to be the natural person that appellant intended to injure, defraud, and harm when she removed and substituted a price tag. The evidence showed that Murray Jackson was a security guard who worked for the corporation. Such an employment relationship does not render a security guard a special owner of the property within the premises he guards. See V.T.C.A., Penal Code, Section 1.07(24); McGee v. State, 572 S.W.2d 723 (1978). The dissent suggests that the evidence does support the essential averment that Murray Jackson was indeed harmed, injured and defrauded because he was “the person affected” by the appellant’s act and was likewise “interested” in the welfare of the owner. We concede that a security guard is interested, or should be, in the welfare of his or her employer, the owner of the property to be guarded; however, we disagree that the removal and substitution of price tags “affects” a security guard in the sense intended in the definition of “harm” under V.T. C.A., Penal Code, Section 1.07(16). The person “affected” by the removal and substitution of price tags is the owner, be he general or special. It is clear that Murray Jackson did not suffer any “loss, disadvantage, or injury” from the actions of the appellant.
The conclusion reached in the original opinion is sound in that the party injured, defrauded, or harmed by the removal and substitution of the price tag is the property owner. The evidence established only that Skaggs-Albertson was the owner of the property and such proof was at a complete *521variance with the allegation by the State that Murray Jackson was the person the appellant intended to injure, defraud, or harm. Such a variance in the allegation and proof is fatal and compels a reversal of appellant’s conviction.
The State’s motion for rehearing is overruled.