Court Opinion

ID: 9766507
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:51:44.588079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:23.479526
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
PHILLIPS, C.J.,
not participating.
In its motion for rehearing, the State asserts that this Court’s holding on original submission is contrary to the terms of Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 38.11 (1974). However, it is the State which seeks to avoid the terms of § 38.11 by absolving itself of the burden of proving a culpable mental state.
Under § 38.11, failure to appear in accordance with the terms of one’s release is a crime only if the failure is intentional or knowing. Such a cupable mental state cannot be shown absent proof the defendant had notice of the proceeding at which he failed to appear. The State does not deny that the record is devoid of any evidence appellant actually knew he was to appear at the August 5th hearing, but argues that such notice was not necessary because appellant’s bond obligated him to appear “instanter.” As expressed by the State in its motion for rehearing, “[a]n ‘instanter’ bond requires an immediate and continuous appearance until discharged,” and “[t]he terms of a defendant’s release under such a bond dispenses with further notice of particular proceedings.” Thus, it is the State’s argument that appellant waived actual notice of future proceedings *239in the criminal cause pending against him by signing the instanter bond.
The State’s argument is in conflict with the clear terms of § 38.11, which contains no provision imposing strict liability on those persons released pursuant to instanter bonds. Moreover, to interpret the term “instanter” so as to relieve the State of its burden of proving a culpable mental state in prosecutions under § 38.11 would raise serious constitutional questions. See Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 99 S.Ct. 2450, 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1979); Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684, 95 S.Ct. 1881, 44 L.Ed.2d 508 (1975); Lowry v. State, 692 S.W.2d 86 (Tex.Cr.App.1985). As noted in our decision on original submission, the opinion in Euziere v. State, 648 S.W.2d 700 (Tex.Cr.App.1983), does not compel the result sought by the State. The other opinions cited by the State are appeals from bond forfeitures. Such cases, being civil in nature, are of little precedential value in resolving the issue before us.
Finally, the State argues that the opinion of this Court “inherently holds that testimony of a defense to a criminal charge must be accepted by the fact finder absent evidence expressly contradicting it.” To the contrary, it is the opinion of this Court that appellant’s defensive testimony had the legal effect of overcoming the State’s prima facie showing of notice. Appellant is not entitled to a judgment of acquittal in this cause because the jury was required to believe his defensive testimony, but because the State offered no evidence from which the jury could reasonably find that appellant intentionally or knowingly failed to appear.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.