Court Opinion

ID: 9768152
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:44:25.543448+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:36.903400
License: Public Domain

RICHARDS, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Our rules of appellate procedure require that briefing rules be construed liberally. Tex.RApp.P. 74(p); see Torres v. Rios, 869 S.W.2d 555, 556 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1993, no writ). It is readily apparent that the majority would hold article 44.181 of the Code of Criminal Procedure unconstitutional had Appellant presented us with a point of error stating, “[t]he trial court erred in overruling Appellant’s motion to quash the complaint because article 44.181 is unconstitutional as applied in this case.” I believe the points of error presented by appellant are sufficient to require us to decide whether article 44.181 is constitutional.
Appellant presented us with eight points of error, all of which direct our attention to the trial court’s failure to grant his motion to quash the complaint: (1) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to describe the property appropriated”; (2) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to allege how the property was appropriated”; (3) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to name the owner of the property”; (4) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to adequately describe the nature and cause of the accusation against him in violation of article 1.04 V.A.C.C.P.”; (5) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to adequately describe the nature and cause of the accusation *927against him in violation of article 1.05 V.A.C.C.P.”; (6) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to adequately describe the nature and cause of the accusation against him in violation of article 1, § 10 of the Texas Constitution”; (7) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to adequately describe the nature and cause of the accusation against him in violation of article 1, § 14 of the Texas Constitution”; and (8) “the trial court erred when it denied appellant’s motion to quash because the complaint failed to adequately describe the nature and cause of the accusation against him in violation of article 1, § 19 of the Texas Constitution.”
In response to Appellant’s contentions that the trial court was constitutionally required to grant the motion to quash the complaint, one of the arguments advanced by the State on appeal was that article 44.181(a) prevents a county court from dismissing a defective complaint. The trial court never indicated it was relying on article 44.181 in its ruling denying the motion to quash, a situation implicitly conceded by the majority in its interpretation of the trial court’s cryptic ruling, “Class C rules apply.” In arguing in its reply brief that article 44.181(a) prevents a county court from granting a motion to quash a defective complaint, the State, in effect sought to invoke the general rule that a trial court’s order may be upheld on appeal for a reason not advanced by the State or considered by the trial judge in the trial court. The State is permitted to urge an appellate court to uphold the trial court’s ruling on grounds never presented to or considered by the trial court. See Romero v. State, 800 S.W.2d 539, 543 (Tex.Crim.App.1990). However, I know of no authority that requires a defendant to anticipate such arguments by the State. Here, in my opinion, appellate counsel went far beyond what was required of him when, in response to the State’s rebanee on article 44.181(a), counsel provided us with a supplemental brief providing its legislative history.