Alford v. State

806 S.W.2d 581, 1991 WL 57965
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 3, 1991·No. 05-90-00354-CR·Published·Cited by 30 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BAKER, Justice.

A jury found Christopher J. Alford guilty of aggravated robbery and sentenced him to fifty years’ confinement. He appeals, *582 contending the trial court erred in: (1) overruling his motion to dismiss the indictment; (2) failing to define the term “beyond a reasonable doubt” in the jury charge; and (3) placing the burden on appellant to prove his duress defense. We overrule these points. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I.FACTS

The grand jury indicted appellant for aggravated robbery. The authorities arrested appellant and placed him in juvenile detention. The State filed a motion for discretionary transfer. After a hearing, the juvenile court entered an order waiving jurisdiction and transferred the case to a criminal district court for further proceedings.

II.PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The criminal district court continued the case while appellant appealed the transfer order. Appellant alleged the juvenile court violated his constitutional right to confrontation at the transfer hearing by allowing hearsay testimony into evidence. We affirmed the juvenile court’s transfer order. We held that because the limited nature of a transfer hearing is dispositional rather than adjudicatory, hearsay rules do not apply. No constitutional right to confrontation exists in a dispositional proceeding. 1 See In re G.B.B., 638 S.W.2d 162, 164 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1982, no writ); G.R.L. v. State, 581 S.W.2d 536, 538 (Tex.Civ.App.—Dallas 1979, no writ).

Appellant then filed a motion to dismiss the indictment and objection to jurisdiction in the trial court. He alleged the constitutional violations at the transfer hearing deprived the criminal district court of jurisdiction. The trial court denied the motion. The case went to trial.

Appellant pleaded not guilty to the jury. He testified in his own behalf at the guilt/innocence phase. He raised the defense of duress. Appellant testified he participated in the armed robbery because his companion compelled him to do so with threats of imminent death or serious bodily injury. The trial court charged the jury that the defendant must prove duress by a preponderance of the evidence.

III.THE INDICTMENT

In his second point of error, appellant contends the trial court erred in overruling his motion to dismiss the indictment. He argues the juvenile court denied him his rights of confrontation and due process guaranteed by both the United States and Texas Constitutions. Appellant concludes that because the transfer order was invalid, the criminal district court had no jurisdiction.

The doctrine of the law of the case forecloses appellant’s argument in this appeal. The doctrine dictates that when a court of last resort determines a question of law on a prior appeal of the case, that determination governs the case throughout. See Ex parte Calvin, 689 S.W.2d 460, 462 (Tex. Crim.App.1985). Appellant appealed the juvenile court’s transfer order through the civil appeals courts. The appeal resulted in a final ruling adverse to appellant’s position. We must abide by the prior ruling. Calvin, 689 S.W.2d at 463. We overrule appellant’s second point of error.

IV.OBJECTIONS TO THE COURT’S CHARGE

The trial court instructed the jury as follows:

A person commits an offense only if he voluntarily engages in conduct, including an act, an omission, or possession.
A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result. * * * # * *
A defense raised by the defendant, Christopher Jermaine Alford, in this case *583 is what is known as duress. It is an affirmative defense to prosecution for any offense that the person charged engaged in the proscribed conduct because he was compelled to do so by the threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury to himself. Such compulsion exists only if the threat of force is such as would render a person of reasonable firmness incapable of resisting the pressure.
The burden of proof of the affirmative defense of duress rests upon the defendant, and to establish such defense, the defendant must prove it by a preponderance of the evidence. By the term “preponderance of the evidence” it is meant the greater weight and degree of the credible evidence in the case.
Now, therefore, if you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Christopher Jermaine Alford, did commit the offense of aggravated robbery, as alleged in the indictment and hereinbefore defined in this charge, but you further find by a preponderance of the evidence that, after viewing the facts from the defendant’s standpoint at the time, Boderick Taylor had threatened imminent death or serious bodily injury to the defendant if he did not participate in said robbery, and that his threats were such threats of force as would render a person of reasonable firmness incapable of resisting the pressure, and that the defendant was in fear of imminent loss of his life or serious bodily injury at the hands of Boderick Taylor if he did not participate in the robbery and that so believing, he did participate therein, then you will acquit the defendant and say by your verdict “not guilty.”
If, however, after viewing the facts from the defendant’s standpoint at the time, you do not find by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant’s participation in the offense, if any, was compelled by such threat of imminent death or serious bodily injury at the hands of Boderick Taylor as would render a person of reasonable firmness incapable of resisting the pressure thereof, then you will find against the defendant on his defense of duress. ******
Now, bearing in mind the foregoing instructions, if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, Christopher Jermaine Alford, on or about the 21st day of April, A.D., 1989, in the County of Dallas and State of Texas, as alleged in the indictment, did then and there, acting alone or with Boderick Taylor and Billy Harris, while in the course of committing theft and with the intent to obtain or maintain control of the property, namely current money of the United States of America, from Angelina Matthews, by using or exhibiting a firearm, a deadly weapon, did intentionally or knowingly threaten or place said Angelina Matthews in fear of imminent bodily injury or death, you will find the defendant guilty of the offense of aggravated robbery and so say by your verdict.
If you do not so find or believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, or if you have a reasonable doubt thereof, you will acquit the defendant and say by your verdict “not guilty.” ******

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Alford v. State, 806 S.W.2d 581, 1991 WL 57965 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

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