Court Opinion

ID: 9777774
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 20:24:08.274728+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:01.581512
License: Public Domain

TEAGUE, Judge,
concurring.
The majority opinion correctly holds that the Dallas Court of Appeals erroneously interpreted O’Donald v. State, 492 S.W.2d 584 (Tex.Cr.App.1973), which I find is understandable, perhaps because of the way that opinion was written. I write because I find that the evidence is sufficient even without the testimony of the accomplice witness Dickson; thus, it is unnecessary to concern ourselves with the doctrine that an accomplice witness’ testimony must be corroborated.
*337First, however, I will address O’Donald, supra, and some of the rules that govern the testimony of an accomplice witness.1
The key to understanding O’Donald, supra, lies in what the author of that opinion stated and underscored on page 587 of the opinion, to-wit: “In this case the evidence corroborates the details of the renting of the truck and the selling of a load of grain, but no evidence outside of the accomplice witness’ testimony shows that any grain was taken or tends to connect the appellant with the taking of grain, if it was taken, from the bins of the Randall County Feed Yard.” Thus, under the rules of law that govern corroboration of an accomplice witness’ testimony, O’Donald is sound as a 1933 silver dollar.
The Legislature of this State has mandated that before a conviction based upon the testimony of an accomplice witness might be sustained, there must be independent evidence, outside of the accomplice witness’ testimony, that tends to connect the defendant with the offense for which he stands convicted. Art. 38.14, V.A.C.C.P.
Where the State relies upon an accomplice witness’ testimony to sustain a conviction for the offense of burglary, as here, the accomplice witness’ testimony must first be discarded. The evidence then must be reviewed to determine whether there is independent evidence that a burglary occurred and whether there is independent evidence that tends to connect the defendant to the burglary.
In this instance, in its assertion that the evidence is sufficient to sustain the appellant’s conviction, the State also relies upon the fact that the defendant was found in recent and exclusive possession of property that came from the burglary, in order to connect the defendant to the burglary. However, the appellant gave a reasonable explanation why he had possession of the ill gotten goods that were sold to Dickson. Thus, the State had the burden to prove the falsity of such statement. By the jury’s verdict, it rejected the appellant’s explanation of how he obtained possession of the goods.
In this instance, through the testimony of the complaining witness, the State established the offense of burglary. Through the testimony of Dickson, the purchaser of the ill gotten goods, the State established that the appellant was in recent and exclusive possession of the goods. The State also proved that the appellant received part of the proceeds from the sale of the goods to Dickson. By the jury’s verdict, it rejected the appellant’s explanation of how he had obtained possession of the goods. Thus, this case falls within the following rule: Where there is independent evidence of a burglary and the defendant is shown to be in recent possession of property that came from the burglary, and the jury has rejected the defendant’s explanation of how he obtained possession of the goods, this will be sufficient to sustain a conviction for the offense of burglary. Thus, even without the testimony of the accomplice witness Dickson, the evidence is sufficient to sustain the appellant’s conviction.
With the testimony of the accomplice witness, this made the evidence more than sufficient to sustain the appellant’s conviction for the offense of burglary. In short, both factually and legally, the appellant is dead in the water as far as his challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence goes.
In this instance, Hon. Robert Huttash, the State Prosecuting Attorney, is absolutely correct when he states that the court of appeals “simply missed the boat in this case.”

. The defendant in O’Donald, supra, was convicted of the offense of felony theft. The State’s case was dependent upon the testimony of an accomplice.