Court Opinion

ID: 9655251
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:03:42.647599+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:17.054505
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
The State has filed a motion for rehearing in Rodasti v. State, No. 01-87-00785-CR (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.], March 15, 1990, n.p.h.) (op. on remand) (not yet reported) (Rodasti III). We deny the State’s motion for rehearing.
In Rodasti v. State, 749 S.W.2d 161 (Tex.App.— Houston [1st Dist.] 1988) (Rodasti I), we overruled appellant’s point of error contending that the trial court improperly admitted, at appellant’s punishment hearing, State’s exhibit 6, a Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) pen packet, as a self-authenticating document under Tex.R. Crim.Evid. 902.
On appellant’s petition for discretionary review, the Court of Criminal Appeals remanded Rodasti I to this Court for further consideration in light of Dingler v. State, 768 S.W.2d 305 (Tex.Crim.App.1989). Rodasti v. State, 786 S.W.2d 294 (Tex.Crim.App.,1989) (Rodasti II). On remand, we withdrew our opinion in Rodasti I and, following Dingier, decided that State’s exhibit 6 was improperly admitted as a self-authenticating document under Tex.R. Crim.Evid. 902 because the copies of the judgment and sentence in State’s exhibit 6 did not reflect that the “original” copies received by the TDC were certified by the district clerk of the convicting court. Dingier, 768 S.W.2d at 306; Rodasti III, op. at 380-381.
In support of its motion for rehearing, the State argues that Dingler applied former Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 3731a (Ch. 471, sec. 1, 1951 Tex.Gen.Laws 830, repealed by, ch. 685, sec. 9(b), 1985 Tex.Gen. Laws 2472, 2474), whereas Tex.R.Crim. Evid. 902 applies to this case, and that our decision in Rodasti III conflicts with rule 902. The State urges us to distinguish Dingier on this basis, and to follow Redd v. State, 768 S.W.2d 439 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1989, pet. ref’d) (applying Tex.R.Crim.Evid. 901), and uphold the admissibility of State’s exhibit 6.
Relying on Dingler, the Dallas and Houston [14th District] Courts of Appeals have rejected similar contentions made by the State here. Henderson v. State, 788 S.W.2d 621 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.], 1990, n.p.h.); Reed v. State, 785 S.W.2d 412 (Tex.App. — Dallas, 1990, pet. requested). These cases support the proposition that, under either former article 3731a or Tex.R.Crim.Evid. 902, the copies of the judgment and sentence in the TDC pen packet must reflect that the clerk of the convicting court certified the originals. In other words, the result is the same whether former article 3731a or Tex.R. Crim.Evid. 902 is applied. In rejecting the State’s contentions in its motion for rehearing in this case, we adopt the reasoning of Henderson.
To the extent that Redd conflicts with Rodasti III, and requires a different result, we disavow Redd. We also note that Redd was decided before Rodasti II and relied on Rodasti I, which the Court of Criminal Appeals remanded to us in Rodasti II in light of Dingier, resulting in our decision in Rodasti III. We decline to speculate on the reasons why the Court of Criminal Appeals granted a petition for discretionary review in Rodasti I, and not in Redd.
*382The State’s motion for rehearing is denied.