Court Opinion

ID: 9680789
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:38:38.98991+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:30.508094
License: Public Domain

DOUGLAS, Judge,
dissenting.
The majority reverses this conviction even though appellant took the stand and admitted his guilt. The majority holds that the confession was inadmissible and reverses the conviction even though appellant testified to substantially the same facts proved by the confession. Summarily rejecting the State’s theory of waiver or harmless error, the majority stated that appellant, while testifying, interjected a claim of self-defense and thereby sought “to explain” the statements in his confession. What did he explain? An examination of the doctrine of harmless error or curative admissibility affirmatively demonstrates that appellant’s testimony waived or, at least, rendered harmless any error in the admission of the confession.
Appellant’s testimony was nothing more than a self-serving elaboration of the statements contained in the confession. The only conflicts concerned whether appellant had drawn his gun before the deceased had drawn his and whether appellant had made a threatening statement to the chief of police.
With regard to the sequence in which appellant and the deceased drew their guns, the confession reads:
“. He (the deceased) said ‘You’re going to go.’ I got back in my car and got my gun out. I had it in a holster under the seat. When I came out of the car he had his gun out of the holster. I said to myself ‘he’s not going to kill me right here at my own yard.’ I shot at him three or four times. I saw him fall to the ground. . . . ”
Appellant testified on direct examination as follows:
“A. Well, I drove to the house and he got in right behind me. I got out of the car and started to go in, told him I was going in, I was going to sleep. He told me again that I had to go with him.
“Q. Did he tell you at that time that you were under arrest?
“A. No.
“Q. Did he tell you why he wanted you to go in?
“A. No.
“Q. Okay. So he told you that you would have to go with him. What happened next?
*802“A. Well, I just didn’t know. I turned around and, you know, I was facing the house and when I turned around I looked at him, seen he had a gun.
“Q. You saw that he had his gun. Do you mean in his holster or in his hand?
“A. He had it in his hand.
“Q. All right. What did you do next?
“A. I thought he was going to kill me. I just went in my car and got my gun.
“Q. What did you do?
“A. When I came back out he turned around, pointed the gun to me; I shot.”
The second conflict was clarified on cross-examination. Appellant stated in the confession that the local police had been harassing him, that he had complained about this to the chief of police, and that he had warned the chief he “didn’t want to do anything to them.” Appellant testified, however, that he had not said he did not want to be forced to harm the officers who were harassing him.
The remaining alleged discrepancy was merely a matter of semantics. In this connection, the record reflects:
“Q. Well, in other words, except the place where you said that it is in error about you getting your gun out before the officer had his gun out and that about that you didn’t want to do anything to the officer you talked to Mr. Nobles about. Is the rest of the statement true and correct?
“A. Well, those — no, it is not correct; not in my words.
“Q. All right. What is not correct, then? Let’s get that straight.
“A. It says there that the man said he was going to take me in. He never told me he was going to take me in. He said I had to go with him.
“Q. Well, what is the difference between you having to go with him and him taking you in? Just the way he said it, is that what you are talking about?
“A. Right.”
Heretofore, the doctrine of curative admissibility — that an accused may not complain of the admission of illegally obtained evidence where he testifies to substantially the same facts proven by the challenged evidence — has been consistently followed by this Court. See, e. g., Cameron v. State, 530 S.W.2d 841 (Tex.Cr.App.1975); Lovell v. State, 525 S.W.2d 511 (Tex.Cr.App.1975); Wood v. State, 523 S.W.2d 248 (Tex.Cr.App.1975); Melton v. State, 511 S.W.2d 957 (Tex.Cr.App.1974); Owens v. State, 503 S.W.2d 271 (Tex.Cr.App.1974); DeLeon v. State, 500 S.W.2d 862 (Tex.Cr.App.1974); Moulton v. State, 486 S.W.2d 334 (Tex.Cr.App.1972); Williams v. State, 479 S.W.2d 300 (Tex.Cr.App.1972); and Palmer v. State, 475 S.W.2d 797 (Tex.Cr.App.1972).
In McLaughlin v. State, 109 Tex.Cr.R. 307, 4 S.W.2d 54 (1928), this Court first used the phrase “meet, destroy or explain” to describe those situations where no waiver occurs. It is clear from that case, however, that where the accused admits the truthfulness of evidence to which he objects he has waived any error in the admission of such evidence.
Later cases also indicate that waiver of the error in admitting illegally obtained evidence occurs if the accused admits the existence of those facts even though he is attempting to “explain” the circumstances surrounding those facts. In Parker v. State, 384 S.W.2d 712 (Tex.Cr.App.1964), the defendant was stopped for a traffic violation. The arresting officer observed two barbiturate capsules in the defendant’s hand as the defendant searched for his driver’s license. At trial, the defendant testified that he did have the capsules in his hand but claimed that he noticed them on the floor of his van and had picked them up immediately prior to being stopped. He stated that he did not know what they contained. Nevertheless, he was convicted for possession of a dangerous drug. On appeal, we held that the defendant had waived any error in the admission of the capsules because he had admitted that he *803had possessed them despite his attempt to “explain away” such possession.
In Lester v. State, 498 S.W.2d 927 (Tex.Cr.App.1973), narcotics officers established a surveillance of an El Paso house as the result of a tip received by a United States Customs Officer that marihuana was going to be delivered to that address. The officers observed defendants Lester and Shea put what the officers believed to be marihuana into an automobile. The defendants drove away and the officers followed them. When the officers attempted to stop the defendants, numerous shots were exchanged. One officer and Lester were wounded. Shea was convicted of assault with intent to murder without malice and Lester was convicted of aggravated assault.
The defendants contended on appeal that the guns taken from them following their arrest were the fruits of an illegal search and were erroneously admitted in evidence. We found it unnecessary to pass upon the legality of the arrest since the defendants testified on direct examination that they had the guns in their possession. We stated that “[h]aving voluntarily taken the stand at the guilt stage and on direct examination admitted having an exchange of gunfire with the officers, [defendants] cannot question the lawfulness of the search where the guns were seized. . . . ” 498 S.W.2d at 929.
In Nicholas v. State, 502 S.W.2d 169 (Tex.Cr.App.1973), we reasoned that the doctrine of curative admissibility is based on the introduction by the accused of other evidence of the same facts, without objection, and not merely the introduction of other evidence on the same subject or a different use of an exhibit in question. Moreover, we again established that even where the accused testifies in his own behalf in order to “meet, destroy or explain” the improperly admitted evidence, he waives any objection to such evidence if he proves substantially the same facts as those in question. Thus, the fact that the accused’s admissions are made while attempting to establish a defense will not preclude a waiver.
In the instant case, appellant complains of the admission of the confession even though he later testified on direct examination to substantially the same facts. Excepting two self-serving variations, he testified to the same facts as contained in the confession and even went into greater detail about the circumstances surrounding the offense.
Appellant’s testimony did not “explain” the facts relating to the offense as that term has been construed by our cases. Rather, he merely confirmed the substance of the statements made in the confession. His defense of self-defense had already been raised by one of those statements: “I said to myself ‘he’s not going to kill me right here at my own yard.’ ” The majority should point out what he explained.
Moreover, although appellant may well have taken the stand in order to minimize the injury resulting from the admission of the confession, this was a product of his own trial strategy, not the result of impulsion or compulsion on the part of the State. See Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (1968). His admission that he shot the deceased was made solely to enhance his defense. Having admitted to the truthfulness of the facts contained in the confession, he cannot now be heard to complain that the confession was inadmissible. Wood v. State, supra; Melton v. State, supra; Owens v. State, supra; DeLeon v. State, supra. To hold otherwise would allow an accused to voluntarily testify in his own self-interest and then protest on appeal that he was “impelled” to do so because of the strength of the State’s evidence against him.
We should adhere to the well-established doctrine of curative admissibility and hold that any error in the admission of the confession was waived or rendered harmless. The judgment should be affirmed.
DALLY and W. C. DAVIS, JJ., join in this dissent.
VOLLERS, J., not participating.