Butler v. State

429 S.W.2d 497, 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1051
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 13, 1968
Docket41007
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 429 S.W.2d 497 (Butler 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
Butler v. State, 429 S.W.2d 497, 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1051 (Tex. 1968).

Opinions

OPINION

MORRISON, Judge.

The offense is subornation of perjury; the punishment, six years, probated.

The sufficiency of the evidence is strenuously challenged. Willie Hanson, the State’s principal witness, was seriously impeached by contradictory statements and in his own testimony, but in doing so, it is believed that under the holding of this Court in Castro v. State, 124 Tex.Cr.R. 13, 60 S.W.2d 211, with opinions by Judge Hawkins, Lattimore and Morrow, he was shown to have known what a felony was when he swore falsely in 1965 that he had not been previously convicted of a felony.

It was shown that Hanson plead guilty and was convicted of driving while intoxicated, first offense, in County Court at Law #3 of Harris County, on March 31, 1943; was convicted of theft in the Criminal District Court of Harris County on February 12, 1944; had plead guilty and was convicted of theft in County Court at Law # 4 of Harris County on May 1, 1959; was convicted of driving while intoxicated, a felony, in Criminal District Court # 2 of Harris County on May 31, 1962. This was his background when he testified falsely on October 13, 1965, in answer to appellant’s question at a trial for a second felony, driving while intoxicated. The main thrust of appellant’s contention is the same as in Castro v. State, supra, i. e., that Hanson did not know what a felony was. The Court said:

“They were aware of the fact that there was no testimony before them as to what appellant had had explained to him in his other trial, in which he asked for a suspended sentence, or his otherwise understanding of the meaning of the words ‘convicted of a felony.’
It was thus before the jury trying appellant in this case that he had been twice prior thereto tried for felonies; in both which instances he had been convicted, one conviction being reversed on appeal. Appellant would be held to know the law.”

We now approach appellant’s contention that appellant’s guilt as a suborner is not shown. Appellant started practicing law in Houston in 1961, and Hanson was one of his first clients when he represented him for his driving while intoxicated felony on May 31, 1962. Hanson was again appellant’s client when appellant represented him following his arrest on May 25, 1963. [499]*499Due to the loss of a hand shortly after the 1963 offense, Hanson was not tried for the driving while intoxicated felony until October 13, 1965. It was at this trial that the subornation and the perjury allegedly took place.

Following the loss of his hand, appellant represented Hanson before the Industrial Accident Board, for which he received approximately $600.00 as a fee.

Appellant testified that when he first started practicing his principal activities were misdemeanor criminal cases, but that as he got better established, his practice became more civil law, and that in 1965, the year in which the subornation is alleged to have occurred, he handled only approximately 20 criminal cases of which only six or seven were felonies. The questions and answers involved in this prosecution are as follows:

“Q. (By Mr. Butler) Have you ever been convicted of a felony in this or any other state ?
A. No sir.
Q. And are you applying for a suspended sentence? Have you applied for a suspended sentence in this court?
A. Yes sir.”

His defense was that at the time he instructed Hanson to go to the clerk’s desk where application for suspended sentence was executed by Hanson on October 13, 1965, and at the time he propounded the questions he had forgotten about the 1963 driving while intoxicated felony at which he had represented Hanson.

We find the evidence sufficient to support the jury’s finding under an appropriate charge that appellant had not forgotten about Hanson’s 1963 felony trial in which he represented Hanson and was not actuated ignorantly, inadvertently or by mistake in causing Hanson to testify as he did.

Hanson testified that appellant had told him during their interview in his office that he would have to have more money because this was Hanson’s third “DWI”. He further testified that during the noon recess of his trial in 1965 he informed the appellant of his prior convictions for driving while intoxicated in 1962 and 1943. We quote:

“Q. (By State’s Attorney) Will you tell the Court and this jury, as best you can remember, the conversation in regard to these other DWI’s that you had with Asberry Butler, Jr., there in the hall ?
A. He told me to testify to the DWI I had in ’43 and the one they was trying me for then.
Q. He told you to testify to that ?
A. That is right.
Q. Was any mention made of the DWI in 1962?
A. I told him that this was my third DWI.
Q. Let me get this straight. You told him this, the one you were on trial for then, was your third DWI ?
A. That is right.
Q. Did he say anything when you told him that?
A. He said: ‘Forget about it. Just testify to ’63 and ’43.’
Q. He said: ‘Forget about it. Just testify to ’63 and ’43 ?’
A. Yes sir.”

Hanson’s wife corroborated his testimony as to the conversation in the hall during the noon recess between her husband and appellant to the extent that she said:

“Q. (By State’s Attorney) Did you hear a portion of the conversation, though?
A. A few words, yes.
Q. Do you remember now what portion of the conversation you heard and who said it ?
[500]*500A. Willie was talking to Mr. Butler about—
Q. (Interposing) And what did he say?
A. Something happened in ’62.
Q. Something happened in ’62?
A. Yes sir.
Q. Did you hear Mr. Butler say anything to Willie ?
A. I heard Mr. Butler tell him to forget that.
Q. Willie was telling him about something that happened in ’62?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Now, did you hear the balance of the conversation?
A. No, sir.
Q. Did you know what Willie was referring to about 1962 ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And wfiat was that ?
A. A felony.
Q. A conviction for driving while intoxicated ?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. And Asberry B. Butler told him to forget about that ?
A. Yes, sir.”

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Butler v. State
429 S.W.2d 497 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1968)

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Bluebook (online)
429 S.W.2d 497, 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1051, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/butler-v-state-texcrimapp-1968.