Court Opinion

ID: 9680598
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:34:52.310636+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:29.554304
License: Public Domain

ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
WOODLEY, Judge.
Appellant again urges that the affidavit for issuance of the search warrant was insufficient to establish probable cause.
Our opinion in Acosta v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 403 S.W.2d 434, supports our holding to the contrary and we are not disposed to overrule it.
He re-urges the contention that the testimony concerning narcotic users entering appellant’s apartment was inadmissible because it tended to prove extraneous offenses.
We agree that Salas v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 365 S.W.2d 174, holding that narcotic addiction is not in itself a crime, is not authority for holding that the evidence mentioned does not constitute proof of extraneous crimes.
Appellant argues that without regard to whether those entering and leaving his apartment were addicts or merely users, the evidence was inadmissible because it showed or tended to show the sale of narcotics.
Even so, proof of the purpose for which the narcotics were possessed was admissible. The rule against admitting evidence of other crimes by the accused is inapplicable if such evidence logically tends to show his guilt of the crime charged, and is not too remote.
Appellant’s remaining contention is that Madeley v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 388 S.W.2d 187, rather than Ex parte Wingfield, 162 Tex.Cr.R. 112, 282 S.W.2d 219, and Ross v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 406 S.W.2d 464, is controlling and that one of the prior convictions alleged for enhancement of his punishment was void because no definite punishment was assessed.
While we remain convinced of the correctness of our original holding, there is another reason why appellant’s contention relating to the prior conviction alleged for enhancement presents no ground for reversal of his conviction for possession of heroin.
This case was tried under the 1965 Code of Criminal Procedure on a plea of not guilty. The question of guilt or innocence of appellant was first submitted to the jury, as provided in Art. 37.07(2), Vernon’s Ann. C.C.P. On return of a verdict of guilty, the appellant did not request that the punishment be assessed by the jury but chose to have the trial judge do so.
*439The conviction was under Art. 725b, Sec. 2(a), Vernon’s Ann.P.C., under which the authorized punishment set out in Section 23 of that Article is confinement “for not less than two (2) years nor more than life”. The judge was therefore authorized to assess life imprisonment with or without the use of the prior convictions for enhancement purposes.
Appellant’s motion for rehearing is overruled.