Court Opinion

ID: 9672668
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:58:41.158776+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:17.685910
License: Public Domain

TEAGUE, Judge,
dissenting.
First off, let me expressly point out that because of the offense for which he was convicted, aggravated robbery, Richard Lee Harrison, aka Richard Lee Vaughn, appellant, was, as a matter of law, prohibited from being placed on “regular” adult probation by the trial judge.
Notwithstanding the pitiful condition of the record on appeal in this cause, the Houston (First) Court of Appeals ordered the conviction of Richard Lee Harrison, aka Richard Lee Vaughn, appellant, reversed after it found that appellant’s plea of guilty was involuntary. See Harrison v. State, 663 S.W.2d 120 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st] 1984). Before reversing appellant’s conviction, I believe that that court should have remanded the cause to the trial court for a hearing on whether appellant’s plea of guilty was voluntary. The record on appeal simply will not support the decision of the court of appeals. But now a majority of this Court compounds the error of omission that was committed by the court of *502appeals by reversing the decision of the court of appeals on a record that has not improved since it reached the court of appeals.
Because I am unable to agree with the majority that the record on appeal sufficiently reflects that appellant was not misled to his detriment by the trial judge’s statements, namely: “You may or may not be accorded probation. That would rest solely in the discretion of the court.”, I am compelled to dissent.
Although I am not in agreement with the majority opinion, because of the condition of the record on appeal, I am also not in agreement with the opinion of the court of appeals for that very same reason. In the interest of judicial economy, I vote to remand this cause to the trial court for a hearing on the issues, whether appellant’s plea of guilty was knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily entered, and whether he entered his plea of guilty on the erroneous premise that he might be considered by the trial judge as a candidate for “regular” adult probation.
Because the majority refuses to order a hearing to be held in the trial court, I must respectfully dissent.