Court Opinion

ID: 9667766
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 01:54:43.766845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:40.689978
License: Public Domain

GRANT, Justice,
concurring.
I concur with the majority opinion.
The thrust of the State’s objection to the question propounded to the victim concerning punishment was that the answer would invade the province of the jury.1 This was not a proper objection. Since the case of Hopkins v. State, 480 S.W.2d 212 (Tex.*108Crim.App.1972), Texas courts have consistently held in criminal cases that evidence cannot be excluded on the basis that it invades the province of the jury. The purpose, however, for requiring that a specific ground for the objection be stated is so that the trial court can understand the basis for the objection. Rule 103(a)(1) of the Rules of Criminal Evidence provides that the specific ground does not have to be stated when it is apparent from the context. (The Rules of Criminal Evidence were not in effect at the time this case was tried, but the purpose for stating the specific ground of objection has not changed.) The trial court’s ruling on the objection reflected an understanding that the basis of the objection was to prevent the witness from expressing an opinion on the matter. The trial court did not couch its ruling in terms of not allowing an invasion of the province of the jury.2
At the punishment stage of the trial, evidence which suggests a mitigation of punishment or which is relevant to an application for probation is admissible. Allaben v. State, 418 S.W.2d 517 (Tex.Crim.App.1967). For example, this could include evidence which might demonstrate to the jury an accused’s likelihood of responding positively to probation as opposed to imprisonment and his understanding of the terms of probation and his willingness to abide by them. Clemmons v. State, 638 S.W.2d 657 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1982, no pet.). Admissible evidence could also include conduct of an accused which demonstrates that he has been rehabilitated since the crime. The admission of such evidence, however, would not require admission of a conclusionary opinion as to leniency, because it would not be beneficial to the jury, and a trial court could properly exclude it as it did in this case.

. The State’s objection was as follows:
Your Honor, the State’s objection would be that all those questions would go to a matter that’s in the sole discretion of the Jury and would be based on opinion considerations in the form of the answers that would invade that Jury province.

. The court’s ruling on the objection was as follows:
I'm going to sustain the objection as to any opinion by this Defendant that the Defendant should be given a lenient sentence, specifically that he should be given the minimum sentence of two years. As far as his opinion as to whether or not his uncle is rehabilitated or changed his ways. I’ll let you put that on if you want to.