Court Opinion

ID: 9766851
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:00:35.207302+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:26.709321
License: Public Domain

NYE, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I respectfully concur with the majority’s opinion. In the case before us, the majority found reversible error in the sentencing phase of appellant’s trial. They would set aside appellant’s conviction and remand him to the custody of the sheriff of Jackson County to answer the indictment in this cause, in accordance with Ex parte Klasing, 738 S.W.2d 648 (Tex.Crim.App.1987). See Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. Art. 44.29(b) (Vernon Supp.1988). In Klasing, the Court of Criminal Appeals found reversible error in the sentencing phase of the applicant’s trial. The Court set aside his conviction and remanded him to the custody of the sheriff to answer the indictment. The State argued that the case should have been remanded only for the punishment phase according to the provisions of Article 44.29(b). The Court of Criminal Appeals stated that it neither ordered the applicant to receive a new trial on the merits nor a new trial only on punishment. The Court also stated that Article 44.29(b) is directed only to the trial court which must take the appropriate action in appropriate circumstances. The correct forum to urge the application of Article 44.29(b) is the trial court. Klasing, 738 S.W.2d at 650-51.
Although the Court of Criminal Appeals announced in Klasing that in cases such as this case Article 44.29(b) is directed to the trial court to take the appropriate action and that the proper forum to urge such action is in the trial court. If such is the correct interpretation of Article 44.29(b), I would urge the trial court to retry the defendant on the punishment phase only. Appellant has had a fair, lengthy, and expensive trial for all concerned based upon the charges levied against him in the indictment. The facts of appellant’s case and the applicable law have been thoroughly reviewed by us. We have found no reversible error in the sentencing phase of appellant’s trial. The only error lies in the punishment phase.
Nothing can be accomplished by a retrial of the entire case. I therefore suggest that, in the interest of justice and judicial economy, appellant’s case should be retried on the punishment phase of the case only as soon as possible while witness are available for the appellant as well as for the State.