Court Opinion

ID: 9660265
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 22:09:07.472957+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:17.206766
License: Public Domain

ODOM, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part on State’s Motion for rehearing.
I concur in the decision to grant relief in cause F79-6693-HJ. I dissent to the deci- ■ sion to deny relief in cause F79-12148-RJ.
In reaching its decision to deny relief, the majority hold that “amphetamine” and “biphetamine” in the indictment do not present a variance. The majority says:
“They [the State] allege, and we agree, that biphetamine is a commercial drug containing one half dextroamphetamine and one half amphetamine ... This, of course, would be subject to proof of these facts at trial.”
The majority overlooks the rule that the place for the State to make its allegations is in the indictment, not in the brief on motion for rehearing.
The majority erroneously suppose that any allegation other than the one in this indictment would have violated Ex parte Wilson, Tex.Cr.App., 588 S.W.2d 905. In truth the opposite is the case. The majority reaffirm Wilson, in the first part of the opinion and violate it in the second. If the fact that biphetamine contains amphetamine is a matter for proof at trial rather than for allegation in the indictment, as the majority asserts, then why is the fact that phentermine is an isomer of methamphetamine not subject to the same rule? The majority admits the latter fact must be alleged, as held in Wilson, but contrariwise holds the former need not be alleged.
The indictment presents a variance on its face, and is to be judged on its face, not by what may be proven later. The indictment in cause F79-12148-RJ should have alleged that petitioner unlawfully acquired “a controlled substance, namely biphetamine, containing the controlled substance amphetamine.” Such an allegation would have eliminated the fatal variance between the tenor and purport clauses and would not have run afoul of Ex parte Wilson, supra.
For these reasons I dissent to the second part of the majority opinion.
ROBERTS, PHILLIPS and TOM G. DAVIS, JJ., join this opinion.