Court Opinion

ID: 9768875
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 13:53:36.580162+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:47.924415
License: Public Domain

BROOKSHIRE, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent respectfully. The Court correctly reasons that the Appellant’s own evidence amounted to and was actually equal to a judicial confession and that he, himself, was an active party to the offense for which he was charged and tried. The prosecutor’s argument, in my opinion, did not improperly urge the jury “to rely upon the credibility of Narvaiz”. This is the holding of the Court which is one of the bases for the reversal of the judgment on punishment. The prosecutor argued to the jury that an assessment of punishment between 25 and 50 years for the Appellant would be appropriate. The prosecutor’s summation was not error; the jury assessed 15 years.
The Court also reverses the judgment on punishment finding that there was error on the part of the district court in charging the jury on the law of good conduct and parole. The court at the time necessarily charged in accordance with TEX. CODE CRIM.PROC.ANN. art. 37.07(4)(b) (Vernon Supp.1989).
TEX.R.APP.P. 81(b)(2) mandates that the appellate court, exercising, I submit, its own prudent judgment, shall determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of made no contribution to the conviction or to the punishment.
The majority cites Rose v. State, 752 S.W.2d 529 (Tex.Crim.App.1988) (Opinion on rehearing). In Rose, the Court con*305ceded that it was unable to know the process the jury underwent in assessing the punishment. Nevertheless, the Court did not reverse the Rose case. Rose did not obtain a new trial on punishment. The Court of Criminal Appeals apparently based its decision upon three following important factors: (1) the giving of a curative instruction; (2) the prior criminal record of the accused; and (3) the facts of the instant case. The three are probably not necessarily exhaustive or definitive. See Evans v. State, 760 S.W.2d 760 (Tex.App.—Beaumont 1988, pet. ref’d).
Intermediate appellate courts should realize that a modern, enlightened jury is willing to conscientiously follow and adhere to the instructions given by the district judge. See Rose II.
The facts of the instant case are grievous. The quantity of the contraband involved was definitely significant. The value on the street of the large number of pounds of the illegal narcotic was also of importance. The range of punishment permitted an upper limit of 99 years confinement. The jury awarded much less than the State demanded. Coons v. State, 758 S.W.2d 330 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1988, pet. ref d); Pope v. State, 756 S.W.2d 401 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1988, pet. ref’d).
The prosecutor did not make reference to parole in his final argument. Rodriguez v. State, 757 S.W.2d 420 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1988, no pet.). There was a sale of over 46 pounds of marihuana which the majority concedes is an extremely serious criminal offense.
The majority writes “... we believe there is a reasonable possibility the jury assessed appellant fifteen years’ confinement because they believe this would tend to ensure appellant stayed in prison for five years as they had been informed Nar-vaiz was ‘to do’.”
There is nothing in the record to indicate upon what the jury assessed the fifteen years’ confinement. Nor is there any indication to the effect that the jury actually believed that Narvaiz was going to have to serve the five full years on a one day for one day basis. Perhaps the majority in dealing with TEX.CODE CRIM.PROC. ANN art. S7.07(4)(b) (Vernon Supp.1989) have become majoritarians.
I think the rationale and holdings of Rose, supra, under this record, are compellingly persuasive that the parole law instruction did not contribute to the punishment assessed. Through collegiality at the local level, in Huntsville at regional continuing education seminars and at Statewide judicial conferences, a likely consensus has been established that the genesis of Rule 81(b)(2) is Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065 (1967). A more recent Supreme Court decision involving the State of Texas, probably of equal importance, is Satterwhite v. Texas, 486 U.S. 249, 108 S.Ct. 1792, 100 L.Ed.2d 284 (1988). Chapman involved one death sentence and a life sentence. At the time the California State Constitution provided that in criminal cases whether the defendant testified or not his failure to explain or deny by his testimony any evidence or facts in the case against him may be commented upon by the court and by counsel and may be considered by the jury.
There were two petitioners in the Chapman case, Ruth Chapman and Thomas Tea-le. Neither one chose to testify. The State’s attorney prosecuting them took full advantage of his power under the then California Constitution to comment upon their failure to testify, filling his arguments to the jury from start to finish with many references to their silence and inferences of their guilt resulting from that silence. Indeed, the trial court charged the jury that the factfinders could draw adverse inferences from the petitioners’ failure to mount the stand and testify. The U.S. Supreme Court held that California’s Constitutional provision and practice were invalid on the ground that the same put a penalty on a person’s basic right not to be compelled to be a witness against himself —a valuable and precious right guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution which was made applicable to California and the other states by *306the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. See Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 84 S.Ct. 1489, 12 L.Ed.2d 653 (1964). Note that a death sentence was involved and a United States constitutional, personal right was violated. The death of a human being was imminent and a clear, basic, constitutional right as set out in the Federal Bill of Rights was violated. That right was of a personal nature; it was more basic and personal than the separation of powers doctrine.
In Satterwhite, supra, the jury assessed death. Justice O’Connor characterized the situation as literally a life or death matter which the defendant should not be required to face without the guiding hand of counsel. Satterwhite had been ordered examined by the only medical doctor and psychiatrist who testified, being Dr. James P. Grigson. No notice was given to Satter-white’s attorney of record of the examination by Dr. Grigson. Dr. Grigson reported that Satterwhite had a severe, anti-social personality disorder and was extremely dangerous and would commit future acts of violence. Hence, there was a violation of the Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. The right to counsel is personal to the accused.
In Mr. Hinojosa’s case, the death penalty is not involved, nor is the Fifth Amendment nor the Sixth Amendment. In Satterwhite, supra, the Court reached a conclusion that not all constitutional violations amounted to reversible error. In Chapman, supra, Mr. Justice Black referred to Fahy v. Connecticut, 375 U.S. 85, 84 S.Ct. 229, 11 L.Ed.2d 171 (1963) wherein the Court stated the question is whether there is a reasonable possibility that the evidence complained of might have contributed to the conviction; but the Court reiterated that trial errors which violate constitutional guarantees do not necessarily require a reversal.
Additionally, the facts of the instant case reinforce and justify the sentence assessed by the jury. I would respectfully submit that a type of constitutional error dealt with in Rose —being a violation of the separation of powers doctrine — is not personal to Hinojosa. Whereas under Chapman, supra, and Satterwhite, supra, there were violations of certain basic, personal, constitutional guarantees directly affecting these defendants.
It appears that TEX.R.APP.P. 81(b)(2) has not been applied consistently in every type of case where error has been discovered. For example, error in the State’s summation or argument did not lead to a reversal. Wilford v. State, 739 S.W.2d 854 (Tex.Crim.App.1987). In Wilford two erroneous arguments were made. In Tolbert v. State, 743 S.W.2d 631 (Tex.Crim.App.1988) the court erroneously admitted a videotape. The videotape had been taken in violation of the Appellant’s personal, constitutional right of confrontation under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The taking of the videotape in question was also deemed a violation of the Appellant’s Texas guaranteed right of confrontation under Article I, section 10 of the Texas Constitution. The videotape violated personal, basic, guaranteed, constitutional rights. Nevertheless, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction stating that a well settled rule in a bench trial is that a presumption is entertained that the trial judge disregarded any inadmissible evidence introduced at trial. Hence, these grave violations of basic, guaranteed, personal, constitutional rights did not automatically call for a reversal. TEX.R.APP.P. 81(b)(2) was not invoked. I make no quarrel with Tolbert, supra; Wilford, supra. But these affirmances demonstrated that Rule 81(b)(2) is not invariably invoked.
Therefore, I would respectfully submit that the Court of Criminal Appeals ought to rewrite TEX.R.APP.P. 81(b)(2) to give the courts of appeals more detailed guidelines. The Court of Criminal Appeals could in a fresh, definitive opinion instruct us as to where the burden lies under Rule 81(b)(2) and to which types of eases it will be applied uniformly.
I submit that the curative instruction given in Rose II is not meaningfully different from the curative instruction given in Hi-nojosa. The High Court in Rose II concluded that generally there was a presump*307tion that the jury follows the instructions given by the trial judge and in the manner the instruction is given. See Cobarrubio v. State, 675 S.W.2d 749 (Tex.Crim.App.1983). The curative instruction in Rose II instructed the jury not to discuss among themselves how long the defendant will be required to serve. In Hinojosa the jury was instructed not even to consider, much less discuss, the extent to which good conduct time may be awarded to or forfeited by this particular defendant. This curative instruction was also the judge’s last words in his charge. Rose II received the maximum sentence for aggravated robbery.
Since the Court reverses the judgment and remands the cause for a new trial on punishment, I respectfully dissent.