Brooks v. State

901 S.W.2d 742, 1995 WL 348207
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 3, 1995·No. 2-91-305-CR·Published·Cited by 32 cases

Opinion

OPINION ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

RICHARDS, Justice.

The court has considered the State’s petition for discretionary review. We hereby withdraw our opinion and judgment on remand of December 21, 1994, reconsider and modify the same, and substitute the following:

Edward Dee Brooks was convicted by a jury of the offense of aggravated robbery for the robbery of a teller at a savings and loan association. See TexPenal Code Ann. § 29.03 (Vernon 1994). 1 The teller, Jeanice Madewell, testified that Brooks robbed her at gunpoint. The jury assessed punishment, enhanced by two prior felony convictions, at ninety-nine years’ imprisonment in the Texas Department of Corrections (now known as the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice). This court affirmed the conviction in an unpublished opinion. On remand from the court of criminal appeals we reconsider Brooks’ sixth and eighth points of error.

There is an ambiguity in the opinion on appellant’s petition for discretionary review which requires this court to determine the scope of the remand. The opinion states:

In part of Appellant’s second ground for review he contends the Court of Appeals did not address his argument in his fourth point of error that under the Gaskin 2 rule he was entitled to a transcription of a witness’ testimony given at a previous trial.

The ambiguity lies in the fact that the part of the second ground for review which addresses the denial of a transcription of testimony refers to Brooks’ sixth point of error.

The arguments of the fourth point of error are raised in the third ground for review. While this point of error does raise a Gaskin argument, it concerns the failure of the State to produce a statement made by a witness prior to any trial.

We review the sixth point of error instead of the fourth because the court of criminal appeals directs us towards the question involving transcription of prior testimony at a trial. The opinion further states that “Appellant’s remaining grounds of error, including that part of ground two not involving the transcription of previous testimony, are refused.” This language controls the mislabell-ing of the points of error.

Brooks raises two points of error on remand. In his sixth point of error he argues the trial court erred in refusing to order the State to produce the transcripts of a witness’s testimony from an earlier trial. In his eighth point of error Brooks argues that the court erred in admitting certain medical records.

We affirm.

SIXTH POINT OF ERROR

Brooks’ sixth point of error asserts the trial court committed fundamental error in refusing to order the State to produce a transcription of the written testimony of the eyewitness, Jeanice Madewell, given in the trial of co-defendant Johnny Zurfluh. After Madewell testified on direct examination, Brooks’ attorney requested a transcript of Madewell’s testimony from the Zurfluh trial at the conclusion of Madewell’s testimony in the case at bar. Brooks contends a transcription of the prior statements made by Ms. Madewell under oath in the Zurfluh trial were discoverable under the Gaskin rule, and should be furnished to the defendant by the prosecution.

*745 Brooks presents two theories in connection with his Gaskin request. The first theory is that the trial court committed fundamental error in denying his request for a transcript because the Gaskin request satisfied the “particularized, specific need” requirement for the transcription of the trial of a third party. The second is that the failure of the trial court to order production of the statements under Gaskin is itself fundamental error.

Addressing the first theory we turn to the original opinion by this court. It is well settled that an indigent defendant is entitled upon timely request to be furnished without cost, for use at a subsequent trial, a transcription of his earlier mistrial, if it is needed for an effective defense. Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. 226, 227, 92 S.Ct. 431, 433, 30 L.Ed.2d 400, 403 (1971); Billie v. State, 605 S.W.2d 558, 560-61 (Tex.Crim.App.1980). In such eases, the accused is presumed to have a need for the transcription of the court reporter’s notes from his first trial. Armour v. State, 606 S.W.2d 891, 894 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1980). Furthermore, the accused does not bear the burden of showing a particularized need for the transcript, nor of showing that the alternatives to acquire the same evidence are inadequate. Id,

The court of criminal appeals has refused to extend the holdings of Britt and its Texas progeny to cases involving an appellant’s request for the transcription of the trial of a third party. See McKibbon v. State, 749 S.W.2d 83, 86 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 859, 109 S.Ct. 154, 102 L.Ed.2d 125 (1988). The McKibbon court held that in the absence of a showing of some particularized need, the presumption of need should not be applied to transcriptions of third party trials. Id. Rather, the accused shall be required to demonstrate a specific need for the transcript. Id. Moreover, the McKibbon court found that a simple request for the transcript, without more, is insufficient to show a “particularized, specific need.” Id. at 85.

Brooks made a timely request for the transcript of Madewell’s testimony even though his trial had started. Ordinarily a request for transcription made after the start of the trial would not be timely. See Hutchinson v. State, 754 S.W.2d 746, 747 (Tex.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1988, no pet.). The Hutchinson opinion states that the request was made for a “transcript of the proceedings of the first trial in order to effectively cross-examine the state witnesses.” Id. at 746. However, in the context of a request to use the prior testimony of the specific witness for Gaskin cross-examination, a timely request can be made after the witness has testified. TexR.CRIM. Evid. 614; see Billie, 605 S.W.2d at 561-62.

The complaint made by appellant in this appeal, however, is not that appellant was indigent and thus unable to afford the cost of transcribing the court reporter’s notes from the prior trial. Rather, appellant contends the transcription of the court reporter’s notes constituted Gaskin material which the State was required to produce.

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Brooks v. State, 901 S.W.2d 742, 1995 WL 348207 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

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