Appleman v. State

531 S.W.2d 806
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 21, 1976
Docket50287
StatusPublished
Cited by62 cases

This text of 531 S.W.2d 806 (Appleman v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Appleman v. State, 531 S.W.2d 806 (Tex. 1976).

Opinions

OPINION

GREEN, Commissioner.

In a trial before a jury, appellant was convicted of murder without malice. Punishment was assessed at five years. The record reflects that appellant was represented at the trial and on appeal by retained counsel.

In three grounds of error appellant contends that the court erred in overruling his motion for a new trial, in which he alleged that the State knowingly suppressed and failed to disclose evidence of material value to the defense and that jury misconduct occurred when the jury received additional testimony during its deliberations. Each of these contentions is based upon evidence allegedly developed at the hearing on the motion for new trial. It becomes necessary for us to determine whether the transcription of the notes of the court reporter covering the testimony given on the hearing of the motion for new trial is properly before us for our consideration.

Although the record shows that the motion for new trial was overruled by the trial court on October 12, 1973, and that appellant was sentenced and notice of appeal was given on that same date, no transcription of the testimony given at said hearing was filed in this Court until October 21, 1975. It shows that it was for the first time filed with the clerk of the trial court on October 17, 1975.

The appellate record, approved by the court on August 22, 1974, which included the transcript prepared by the district clerk and the transcription of the court reporter’s notes of the trial in chief (but not of the hearing on the motion for new trial) was filed in this Court on May 12, 1975. This record contains no designation by appellant specifying matters he wished to be included in the record. See Article 40.09, Section 2, V.A.C.C.P. The record reflects that after several extensions of time were granted by the trial court in which to file the transcription of the court reporter’s notes of the evidence, the time limit set by the last extension being April 5,1974, the transcription of the evidence given at the trial in chief was filed in the trial court April 5, 1974. Counsel for both parties were duly notified by the clerk of the completion of the record on August 7, 1974, and an approval by both counsel appears in the transcript. On August 22, 1974, no objections having been filed, the trial court approved the record and ordered it filed as approved. See Article 40.09, Section 7, V.A.C.C.P. No statement of facts of any testimony purportedly given at a hearing on appellant’s motion for new trial was at that time on file in the district clerk’s office, same not being filed until October 17, 1975, and the record does not reflect that any such docu[808]*808ment was ever presented to the trial court or included in the court’s approval.

Article 40.09, Section 5, V.A.C.C.P., as applicable here, reads:

“A party desiring to have included in the record a transcription of notes of the reporter shall have the responsibility of obtaining such transcription and furnishing same to the clerk in duplicate in time for inclusion in the record . . . .”

Section 3 of the same article makes as a part of the appellate record the transcription of the court reporter’s notes of the proceedings occurring “before, during or after the trial,” and states that “same will constitute the statement of facts for the appeal.” This section sets out the time limits for filing such statement of facts in the trial court, subject to the trial court granting extensions of time.

We quote from Dart v. State, Tex.Cr. App., 515 S.W.2d 119, p. 121, as follows:

“It is clear and unambiguous from a reading of Sec. 5 of Art. 40.09, supra, that the burden is upon the party desiring a transcription of the court reporter’s notes to not only obtain such, but to further see that same is filed with the Clerk in time for inclusion in the record.
“In Sartain v. State, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 192, 346 S.W.2d 337, this Court followed Ex parte Denson, 165 Tex.Cr.R. 420, 307 S.W.2d 952, in holding:2
“ ‘It is incumbent upon the appellant to obtain the statement of facts, to have the same properly approved, and to follow it up to see that it is filed as required by law.’ ”
Footnote 2 in Dart reads: “The forerunner of Sec. 5, Art. 40.09, supra, was Sec. 4 of Art. 759a, V.A.C.C.P., in effect at the time of the Sartain and Denson cases, which provided in pertinent part, ‘The defendant shall file said statement of facts in duplicate, with the clerk of the trial court, within ninety days after the date of giving notice of appeal .

See also Goodings v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 500 S.W.2d 173; Conerly v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 412 S.W.2d 909; Ex parte Hill, 159 Tex.Cr.R. 238, 262 S.W.2d 507. Cf. with Heck v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 507 S.W.2d 737.

There is no showing that appellant took any action to discharge his responsibility of furnishing the transcription of the evidence at the hearing on the motion for new trial to the district clerk in time for inclusion in the record. Since such transcription was not timely filed, and was not included as a part of the record at the time of the approval by the trial court, it is not properly before us for our consideration.

In the absence of a timely filed statement of the evidence at the hearing, appellant’s first three grounds of error are not before us for review.

In his fourth ground, appellant contends that the evidence establishes self-defense as a matter of law and that the court erred in overruling his motion for instructed verdict.

In Powers v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 497 S.W.2d 594, in overruling a similar contention of the defendant, the Court said:

“In the recent cases of Whitfield v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 492 S.W.2d 502 and Escamilla v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 464 S.W.2d 840, contentions were made that the evidence showed self defense as a matter of law, and this Court recognized the following statement from Parkman v. State, 149 Tex.Cr.R. 101, 191 S.W.2d 743, to be controlling:
“ ‘In making this contention, he recognizes the controlling rule to be that in order for a reviewing court to hold, as a matter of law, that a defendant in a homicide prosecution killed in self-defense, the evidence must be uncontradict-ed and no issue thereon presented for the jury’s determination. Parker v. State, 138 Tex.Cr.R. 478, 136 S.W.2d 229; Patton v. State, 129 Tex.Cr.R. 269, 86 S.W.2d 774.’ ”

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Jamel McClelland Fowler
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Matthew Douglas Hayes v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
George Holmes v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Shirley Crabtree v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Ken Carmichael Lawson v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Barrett W. Robinson v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005
Abdiel Guerrero Miranda v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002
Harold Sparks v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001
Jimmy Martinez v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000
Weaver v. State
999 S.W.2d 913 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Melton v. State
987 S.W.2d 72 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Alberto Camacho v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996
Waller v. State
931 S.W.2d 640 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Walter Kelsey, Jr. v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995
Harris v. State
887 S.W.2d 482 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Penny v. State
880 S.W.2d 59 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Davenport v. State
858 S.W.2d 1 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Coleman v. State
860 S.W.2d 496 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Williams v. State
864 S.W.2d 81 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
State v. Gonzalez
855 S.W.2d 692 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
531 S.W.2d 806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/appleman-v-state-texcrimapp-1976.