Court Opinion

ID: 9679012
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:38:22.169591+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:09.646361
License: Public Domain

GUPTON, Judge
(dissenting).
I cannot agree that Sappington v. State, 508 S.W.2d 840, and Bass v. State, 501 S.W.2d 643, are distinguishable from the instant case.
In Sappington, supra, probationer raised the question of denial of an evidentiary hearing on the charge which resulted in revocation of probation. Probationer was found to have violated the terms of his probation by commission of burglary. Probation was revoked three months later, after probationer had been arrested again. Probationer urged that the arrest, not the commission of burglary, precipitated revocation of his probation. This Court, in affirming the judgment, found that the record clearly revealed the revocation was based on commission of burglary as shown in the probation revocation hearing, not on the subsequent arrest.
The evidence in the ease at bar reflects the court’s revocation order rests on a finding that appellant did not follow the terms and conditions of his probation, although the decision as to when to effectuate that order was based on information which standing alone would not have supported the revocation order.
In the instant case, as in Sappington, the record shows appellant violated the terms and conditions of probation. Appellant concedes the August 27 proceeding complied with all constitutional requirements and there would have been no abuse of discretion had the trial court revoked appellant’s probation at that time. I cannot agree with appellant’s position that the court must revoke probation immediately upon finding that the conditions of probation have been violated and may not subsequently revoke probation based on that finding. A hearing upon a motion to revoke probation is addressed to the trial court’s discretion in determining whether the probation shall be revoked or continued.
The majority opinion distinguishes Bass, supra, on the basis that another motion to revoke probation was filed and another hearing was held. However, those events occurred two years after the original motion to revoke and hearing. To require the trial court in the instant case to entertain another motion to revoke and to conduct another hearing on the same allegation heard by the same judge the previous month would be to mandate a needlessly duplicitous act.
Art. 42.12, Sec. 6, V.A.C.C.P., authorizes the trial court to modify or alter the conditions of probation at any time during the period of probation. The court’s action modifying the conditions of appellant’s probation on August 27 did not nullify appellant’s plea of true to the State’s motion to revoke and the court’s finding that appellant violated the terms of his probation. I would hold the court did not abuse its discretion in revoking appellant’s probation and the court was not required to entertain another motion to revoke probation and conduct another hearing.
The judgment should be affirmed.