Court Opinion

ID: 9772086
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 17:07:01.343706+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:31:42.016049
License: Public Domain

PHILLIPS, Judge,
concurring.
I cannot agree with the majority that a defendant who is a party to a rape necessarily should anticipate that his partner will murder the victim to prevent her from becoming a witness. Without some evidence that the partner manifested homicidal tendencies, e. g. wielded a deadly weapon previous to the commission of the rape or spoke of silencing the anticipated victim, I would hold the evidence insufficient to show that the defendant was guilty of aggravated rape under the law of parties set forth in V.T.C.A. Penal Code, § 7.02(b). Judge Davidson argued the point admirably in his dissenting opinion in Lopez v. State, 170 Tex.Cr.R. 208, 339 S.W.2d 906, 912-913 (1960):
When the court affirms this case they necessarily hold as a matter of law that a conspiracy, agreement, or common design to rape and commit sodomy upon a female would result in the killing of the victim or that such would be reasonably calculated to so result. Such conclusion, either of fact or of law, is so utterly illogical and contrary to human experience as to be wholly without foundation. Yet the court so holds when they affirm this conviction.
* * * * * *
In affirming this case the court establishes as a rule of law that a conspiracy, agreement, or common design to rape and commit an act of sodomy embodies and carries with it the contemplation and notice that in the execution and commission of that agreement the victim will be shot in the head before or during the commission of the rape and act of sodomy.
I could never agree to such holding or proposition of law.
In the present case there is nothing to show that appellant should have anticipated that Silguero would murder the victim. In his second confession (the validity of which is questioned) appellant states that he saw a chrome wrench in Silguero’s back pocket when Silguero took the victim from the car. However, appellant does not state in the confession that he saw the wrench previous to the commission of the offense. By the time appellant saw the wrench, the two men already had kidnapped the victim and appellant had raped her.1 There is absolutely no evidence that Silguero planned or even contemplated the murder in advance of committing the rape. The evidence is insufficient to satisfy § 7.02(b), supra.
Although I vigorously disagree with the reasoning of the majority, I agree with the result it reaches. The record reflects that appellant orally stipulated that the offense alleged in the information “was committed in the County of Hidalgo, State of Texas, on the dates, and in the manner alleged.” Under our case law this stipulation by itself is sufficient to support appellant’s conviction. Dinnery v. State, 592 S.W.2d 343, 352-354 (Tex.Cr.App.1980, Opinion on Rehearing); Potts v. State, 571 S.W.2d 180 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Cevalles v. State, 513 S.W.2d 856 (Tex.Cr.App.1974). See Article 1.15, V.A.C.C.P.
I concur in the result only.

. According to the autopsy report that was admitted in evidence, the victim was not beaten to death with the wrench, but was strangled.