Court Opinion

ID: 9680888
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:40:31.785295+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:29.971405
License: Public Domain

DALLY, Judge,
dissenting.
Appellant’s direct testimony confirming his possession of the biphetamine constitutes a waiver of his objection to its introduction by the State, under the well-established doctrine of curative admissibility. E. g. Warren v. State, 514 S.W.2d 458 (Tex.Cr.App.1974); Lester v. State, 498 S.W.2d 927 (Tex.Cr.App.1973); Creel v. State, 493 S.W.2d 814 (Tex.Cr.App.1973); Moulton v. State, 486 S.W.2d 334 (Tex.Cr.App.1972); Palmer v. State, 475 S.W.2d 797 (Tex.Cr.App.1972); Baity v. State, 455 S.W.2d 305 (Tex.Cr.App.1970); Parker v. State, 384 S.W.2d 712 (Tex.Cr.App.1964); McLaughlin v. State, 109 Tex.Cr.R. 307, 4 S.W.2d 54 (1928). I vigorously dissent to the majority opinion limiting the application of this doctrine, which results from the failure of the majority to recognize the fundamental factual and legal distinctions between the issue presented in Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. 219, 88 S.Ct. 2008, 20 L.Ed.2d 1047 (1968) and the issue presented by the case before us.
In Harrison, the facts of which are adequately set out in the majority opinion, the Supreme Court held that where a defendant is “impelled” to testify because of the introduction by the prosecution of an unlawfully obtained confession, his testimony is the inadmissible fruit of the unlawful confession and may not be used against him in a *517subsequent retrial. In the instant case, we are not asked to decide whether appellant’s trial testimony may be used by the State as evidence against him in a retrial, or for any other purpose. Rather, we are asked to decide whether appellant, by having admitted in direct testimony that he was in possession of the biphetamine at the time of his arrest, waived his objection to the admission of the biphetamine by the State. Harrison simply does not speak to this question of waiver.
It is as if you were comparing apples and oranges to compare Harrison, a Fifth Amendment case, with the Fourth Amendment cases from which the doctrine of curative admissibility has evolved. The dissimilarity of Harrison and the instant case is demonstrated by the fact that Harrison’s trial testimony more nearly fits the corollary to the curative admissibility doctrine announced in cases such as Alvarez v. State, 511 S.W.2d 493 (Tex.Cr.App.1973) than it does the doctrine itself. That is, Harrison did not testify to substantially the same facts as set out in his confessions, nor did he otherwise admit the truth of the confessions. Rather, he sought to meet or rebut the confessions by testifying to a different version of events. This is, of course, in contrast to the instant case. Appellant, in his testimony, admitted possessing the biphetamine.
The majority contends that appellant was “impelled” to testify. I cannot agree. There is absolutely no evidence in the record that appellant’s decision to take the stand was anything but completely voluntary. Granted, appellant was faced with a difficult problem of trial strategy. Believing that the biphetamine had been unlawfully seized, should he remain silent, accept the almost certain revocation of his probation, and rely on a reversal from this Court? Or, recognizing that the validity of the search was a close question and there was a chance this Court would affirm, should he take the stand to admit his possession of the drugs and tell an exculpatory version of events in hope that the probation would not be revoked? Such difficult decisions must be made in virtually every trial. It is a price that is paid for having a system of justice that generally insists upon full trials before appellate review of points of law. It is a problem that can be avoided, within our system, only by doing what is done here, namely, reaching the wrong result as between the litigants. Harrison v. United States, 392 U.S. at 228, 88 S.Ct. 2008 (Mr. Justice Harlan’s dissenting opinion).
The State’s Motion for Rehearing should be granted and the judgment affirmed.
DOUGLAS and TOM G. DAVIS, JJ., joined.