Court Opinion

ID: 9682785
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:16:55.071865+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:41.474566
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON STATE’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
PHILLIPS, Judge.
On original submission, appellants’ convictions were reversed because the prosecutor’s closing argument was considered to be a direct reference to the appellants’ decision not to testify at their trial. See Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, U.S.Constitution; Article I, Section 10, Texas Constitution. The panel, with one member dissenting without a written opinion, carefully set forth this Court’s standard for review in such cases, reviewed the relevant testimony and argument, and reached its decision.
The State’s Motion for Rehearing was granted in order for the full Court to consider whether the original opinion remains viable when the facts set forth therein are considered in conjunction with allegedly overlooked evidence that showed the motel room to be locked. However, the evidence does not show that the motel room was locked after the maid cleaned the room at 2:30 a. m. The State relies on the motel clerk’s testimony that appellant Stafford requested a key to the room in order for him to unload some things he had. The evidence does not support the conclusion the State urges. The State argues that the evidence concerning the maid’s 2:30 a. m. report that the room was clean and Stafford’s request for a key shows there was “other evidence” supporting the prosecutor’s complained-of argument. However, the State did not frame its argument in such terms. Its argument emphasized the lack of evidence which could only be adduced from the appellants. The request for a key evinces at most a concern for the security of Stafford’s property and a desire on his part to lock what could have been an otherwise unlocked motel room. Even if the record showed the door was locked, the argument was no less direct in its reference to the failure of appellants to produce evidence peculiarly within their possession.
We therefore conclude that the original disposition of this appeal was correct and the State’s Motion for Rehearing is overruled.