Court Opinion

ID: 9667151
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:36:45.826511+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:35.386356
License: Public Domain

*123ROBERTSON, Justice,
dissenting.
Finding myself in disagreement with the plurality’s construction of applicable precedent, and the result reached by the majority, I am compelled to dissent.
In Broddus v. State, 693 S.W.2d 459 (Tex.Crim.App.1985), this court found appellant’s plea of guilty was based “at least in part, on the court’s erroneous assurance that his right to appeal the ruling on the motion to suppress would be preserved.” 693 S.W.2d at 460 (quoting from the unpublished opinion of this Court.) (Emphasis supplied.) In Christal v. State, 692 S.W.2d 656 (Tex.Crim.App.1981), the Court of Criminal Appeals noted that the defendant was specifically told by the trial judge he would have the right to appeal the issue of the validity of the search, after entering a plea of nolo contendere without a plea recommendation. 692 S.W.2d at 657. In that case the trial court assured the defendant at least three times that he would be able to appeal issues raised by his pre-trial motions. Id. In Shallhorn v. State, 732 S.W.2d 636 (Tex.Crim.App.1987), the defendant entered a plea of guilty, with the specific understanding, expressed to the court by his counsel, that he would retain his right to appeal the trial court’s adverse ruling on his motion to suppress evidence. 732 S.W.2d at 637.
The common thread running through all the cases on the subject is that the trial court has to actively encourage the false belief in the defendant that he has a right to appeal on upon entering a plea of guilty or nolo contendere without an agreed punishment recommendation, before the plea will be held to be involuntary. In the instant case, appellant entered his plea of nolo contendere with nothing being said about appeal. Appellant acknowledged that his plea was free and voluntary, and it was entered with the understanding that the State reserved the right to “argue the full range of punishment.” The exchange quoted by the majority took place after the court announced its intention to sentence appellant to a term of thirty-five years. Apparently dissatisfied with the sentence, appellant announced he would appeal. The trial court’s response to appellant’s announced intention to appeal was noncommittal. Nothing the trial court said should have actively encouraged in appellant the false belief he had a right to an appeal on the merits.
What the majority does is tantamount to imposing on the trial court an affirmative duty to dispel any illusion a defendant may have concerning his right to an appeal on the merits upon entering a plea of guilty or nolo contendere without an agreed punishment recommendation. Prior cases have never imposed such a duty on the trial court. Furthermore, the rationale of the majority effectively permits a defendant to manipulate the criminal justice system. One in the position of appellant who is dissatisfied with his sentence can simply announce his intent to appeal. Unless the trial court is ever-vigilant and immediately counters with an admonition that no appeal on the merits is possible, the defendant winds up with a free ride through the system in the form of a new trial.
The holding of the majority runs counter to the basic tenet of Anglo-American jurisprudence that it is the duty of the defendant and his attorney to know what the defendant’s rights are, and the trial court is only required to admonish a defendant regarding his rights in certain specific instances that are usually prescribed by statute.
Because the majority by its judgment departs from that cornerstone of our judicial philosophy, and creates a situation subject to a great deal of abuse by criminal defendants, I must respectfully dissent.