Court Opinion

ID: 9770679
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 16:19:07.1515+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:19.868987
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON STATE’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
DOUGLAS, Judge.
The State’s motion for rehearing is granted.
On original submission, although not raised by appellant, the majority reversed and dismissed the prosecution because a “specific intent to commit an offense” was not alleged.
In substance, the indictment alleged that appellant
“. . . did then and there intentionally and knowingly attempt to cause the death of Marvin McClelland, Mattie C. Handy, Mary Louise Williams, and Jerry Preston by shooting them with a gun.”
The case of Lucero v. State, 502 S.W.2d 750 (Tex.Cr.App.1973), answers the question. Even though it concerned an indictment under the former code, it construed the word “attempt” as sufficient to include the word “intent.” In the present case, “attempt” was used instead of “intent.”
Branch’s Annotated Penal Code, 2d Edition, Section 1866, cites the correct rule as follows:
“The word ‘attempt’ is a word of more comprehensive meaning than the word ‘intent’ and includes the latter; . . . ”
For further reasons, see Dovalina v. State, 564 S.W.2d 378 (Tex.Cr.App.1978).
The ground raised on appeal from the order revoking probation that evidence to revoke is insufficient will be discussed. Appellant had been convicted for attempt to murder. His punishment was assessed at eight years and he was placed on probation.
The motion to revoke probation alleged:
“a. On or about the 15th day of December, 1975, in Shelby County, Texas, the Defendant did then and there intentionally and knowingly remain in a habitation of Emma Jean Dock without the effective consent of the said Emma Jean Dock, and the said Buford Telfair after having received notice to depart, to-wit: the owner of said premises had by oral communications told the said Buford Tel-fair to depart, the said Buford Tel-fair failed to depart;
“b. On or about the 15th day of December, 1975, in Shelby County, Texas, the Defendant did then and there intentionally and knowingly threaten Emma Jean Dock with imminent bodily injury;
“c. On or about the 15th day of December, 1975, in Shelby County, Texas, the Defendant did voluntarily and immoderately drink and consume alcoholic beverages, and did wilfully get drunk.”
The court found that all the conditions of probation had been violated.
Without determining the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the finding of a violation of conditions a and b, we hold that the evidence is sufficient to show a violation of condition c.
*525On the day in question, appellant, who was drinking, went to the home of Emma Jean Dock, his former girlfriend, in Shelby-ville. He drank two beers while he was there. They had a disagreement. She testified that appellant threatened her and “he said he would make me kill him or he’d kill me before daylight. But Buford was always doing something like that”, and, “I think he really wanted to make me kill him.”
She related that she asked him to leave, but he refused to leave. She held a gun on him and called the police to remove him.
On cross-examination, she related that she had been going with appellant. When she was asked why she went to see him in jail, she answered:
“When he first went to jail, I wanted to know why he shot Mary cause she was only six years old and I knowed he cared about her,”
and
“Before Buford went to jail, I told him we had to stop seeing each other cause I was — he was scaring the kids. He stayed drunk too much, so I told him I was going to stop seeing him. I was tired of it. Except Buford didn’t understand that.
J. H. Black, Jr., testified that he was a dispatcher for the “city-county police facility” when appellant was brought in by Constable Butch Adams from Shelbyville; that appellant had an odor of alcohol on his breath, and that he was placed in jail for public intoxication. He related that he could not tell if appellant was intoxicated.
O. F. Adams testified that he had been a constable eleven years and had seen many people who were intoxicated. He testified that when he went to Emma Jean Dock’s house appellant was drinking a can of beer and that he was intoxicated. “He wasn’t down drunk, but he was under the influence enough I feel like he was drunk. . . . ”
The trial judge had before him sufficient evidence to conclude that appellant was intoxicated and that he had violated condition “c” of the order granting probation.
No reversible error has been shown. The judgment is affirmed.1
ONION, P. J., and ROBERTS, PHILLIPS and DALLY, JJ., dissent for the reasons stated in the dissenting opinion in Dovalina v. State, 564 S.W.2d 378 (Tex.Cr.App.1978).
VOLLERS, J., not participating.
REAVLEY, Special J., concurs in this opinion.

. Judge Vollers did not participate in the decision of this cause because he acted as counsel for the State prior to his becoming judge of this Court. He certified to Governor Briscoe, under Article 5, Section 11 of the Constitution of Texas, that he was disqualified to sit in this cause and that the votes by the other members of the Court were equally divided. The Honorable Dolph Briscoe, Governor of Texas, appointed the Honorable Thomas M. Reavley, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Texas, to sit in this cause.