Brent David Derrick v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 8, 2006
Docket07-06-00012-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Brent David Derrick v. State (Brent David Derrick v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brent David Derrick v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

NO. 07-06-0012-CR


IN THE COURT OF APPEALS


FOR THE SEVENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS


AT AMARILLO


PANEL B


JUNE 8, 2006

______________________________


BRENT DAVID DERRICK,


Appellant



v.


THE STATE OF TEXAS,


Appellee

_________________________________


FROM THE 181ST DISTRICT COURT OF RANDALL COUNTY;


NO. 15,169-B; HON. JOHN BOARD, PRESIDING
_______________________________


Opinion
_______________________________


Before QUINN, C.J., and CAMPBELL and HANCOCK, JJ.

Brent David Derrick appeals from his conviction for aggravated robbery. Through his sole issue, he objects to the trial court's decision to stack his 45-year sentence upon two others levied by courts in Colorado. One of the two was an eight-year sentence levied by the United States District Court for Colorado in cause number 03-CR-261-N (federal case), while the other was a 36-year sentence assessed by the district court of Montezuma County, Colorado, in cause number D0422003CR000131 (state case). Specifically, appellant asserts that the State failed to prove that he was the person convicted in the federal case. This allegedly prohibited the trial court from stacking the Texas sentence to either Colorado sentence. We overrule the issue and affirm.

A trial court has the discretion to cumulate or stack sentences. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 42.08(a) (Vernon Supp. 2005); Stokes v. State, 688 S.W.2d 539, 540 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985). Before it can do so, however, there must be evidence, at the time of sentencing, establishing both the former conviction and the defendant's identity as the person previously convicted. Barela v. State, 180 S.W.3d 145, 147-48 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005). Moreover, there are a variety of ways through which both may be established. Montgomery v. State, 876 S.W.2d 414, 416 (Tex. App.-Austin 1994, pet. ref'd). They include such things as live direct testimony, admissions, and uncontested utterances by the State. Mungaray v. State, No. PD 1447-04, 2006 Tex. Crim. App. Lexis 597 at *16 (Tex. Crim. App. March 29, 2006).

Appearing of record here is testimony from a Colorado State Trooper and an investigator for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Between the two witnesses, the trial court was told that appellant was charged with and pled guilty to two particular federal crimes in Colorado and that, as a result of his pleas, he received a sentence totaling eight years in federal prison. Much of this testimony was actually solicited by appellant while examining those witnesses. Furthermore, during a conference in open court prior to formal sentencing, the trial court, prosecutor, and defense counsel discussed whether the Texas sentence should run consecutively to the Colorado federal sentences. At that time, no one, including appellant, questioned whether appellant was the subject of those convictions and sentences. Instead, appellant asked that they be ordered to run concurrently with his Texas sentence. Furthermore, the trial court was handed the case number, style, and sentence involved in the Colorado federal prosecutions. Then, it read that specific information into the reporter's record when pronouncing sentence, again without objection by anyone. Given the oral testimony to which we alluded, appellant's own request that the sentences run concurrently, the lack of any complaint about appellant's identity as the pertinent defendant, and the information handed to the trial court, we hold that the record contains some evidence sufficiently identifying appellant as the defendant in the federal convictions. See Mungaray v. State, supra (using the "'some evidence'" test in assessing whether the prior convictions were sufficiently linked to the defendant); see Smith v. State, 20 S.W.3d 827, 829 (Tex. App.-Texarkana 2000, pet. dism'd) (disagreeing that the defendant was not sufficiently identified when the defendant did not object to the adequacy of the identification at trial and merely stated that the sentence should run concurrently). And, because such evidence exists, the trial court was within its discretion to order that appellant's Texas sentence be stacked upon his state and federal sentences emanating from Colorado.

Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.



Brian Quinn

Chief Justice

Publish.

ediately after it was overruled, and do not find Briones dispositive. (3) The opinion in Briones does not indicate whether the unchallenged statements were made immediately after the objection was overruled or at another point in the trial. 12 S.W.3d at 129.

Appellant cites Cantu v. State, 939 S.W.2d 627 (Tex.Crim.App. 1997), as setting out the four permissible areas for closing argument. They are, (1) summation of the evidence, (2) reasonable deductions drawn from the evidence, (3) answer to opposing counsel's argument, and (4) pleas for law enforcement. Id. at 633. (4) He also relies on our opinion in Fant-Caughman v. State, 61 S.W.3d 25 (Tex.App.-Amarillo 2001, pet. ref'd), noting an argument is improper if it makes reference to matters beyond the record. Id. at 28. Improper jury argument has been said to constitute reversible error only if, in the light of the entire record, the argument is extreme or manifestly improper, violates a mandatory statute, or injects into the trial new facts which are harmful to the accused. Wilson v. State, 938 S.W.2d 57, 59 (Tex.Crim.App.1996); Fant-Caughman, 61 S.W.3d at 28. See Hawkins v. State, 135 S.W.3d 72, 80 (Tex.Crim.App. 2004) (three-fold standard for argument error regarding extreme arguments, statutory violations and new facts relates to error, not harm).

The State's argument was within one of the four general permitted areas for jury argument. Appellant's counsel had referred to the dangers of trusting young people, stating "we trust these kids, and then we get hung for it." The argument also included the statement quoted by the prosecutor, "We know better than to trust these young people." The State's argument responded it was the student whose trust was misplaced here. That was a permissible area for its closing argument. Cantu, 939 S.W.2d at 633.

Appellant points to two assertions in the State's argument for which there was no evidence, first, that a bailiff had been a coach at Monterey High School; and secondly, that former students approached him "in a trusting and respectful manner." There are two reasons we find the trial court did not err in overruling the defense's objection to the argument. (5) First, the prosecutor referred to the bailiff and former coach merely as an example of the type of teacher for whom former students have respect. Appellant's brief recognizes the argument referred to people "totally uninvolved in the instant case." The argument did not name the bailiff or any former student who had approached him.

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