Court Opinion

ID: 9639594
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:41:15.58057+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:20.246639
License: Public Domain

OPINION DENYING REHEARING
In an opinion issued March 11, 1998, we affirmed Westfall’s conviction for misdemeanor cruelty to animals. See 10-97-151-CR (Tex.App.—Waco March 11, 1998, no pet. h.). In doing so, we held that the court erred in allowing an amendment to the information after jeopardy had attached, although we determined that such error did not result in harm because we found the error had no more than a slight influence on the verdict.
In his brief, Westfall had argued that an error in allowing the charging instrument to be amended results in automatic reversal under Eastep v. State, 941 S.W.2d 130 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). However, our understanding at oral argument was that he conceded the necessity of a harm analysis under Cain v. State, 947 S.W.2d 262 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). In a motion for rehearing, counsel for Westfall clarified that he made no such concession, stating that he merely conceded that “Cain and Matchett seemed to mandate a harmless error test in almost all situations.”
In Eastep, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated that, “[i]n a clear and unwavering line of cases, we have held that violations of Art. 28.10 are not subject to a harm analysis and no breach of the statute will be tolerated despite the probable effect on the outcome of the trial.” Eastep, 941 S.W.2d at 135. However, the Court later decided Cain, which we read to necessitate a harm analysis. In Cain, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated:
Except for certain federal constitutional errors labeled by the United States Supreme Court as “structural,” no error, whether it relates to jurisdiction, voluntariness of a plea, or any other mandatory requirement, is categorically immune to a harmless error analysis.
*597Cain, 947 S.W.2d at 264. Thus, we subjected the error to a harm analysis, found no harm, and disregarded the error. See Tex.R.App. P. 44.2(b); King v. State, 953 S.W.2d 266, 271 (Tex.Crim.App.1997).
The motion for rehearing is denied.