Butler v. State

736 S.W.2d 664
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 16, 1987
DocketNo. 1063-83
StatusPublished

This text of 736 S.W.2d 664 (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, 736 S.W.2d 664 (Tex. 1987).

Opinions

OPINION ON APPELLANT’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

McCORMICK, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of murder. His punishment, enhanced by a jury finding of two prior final convictions, was automatically assessed at life in the Texas Department of Corrections. This Court granted appellant’s petition on a single ground: whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the trial court’s denial of appellant’s amended motion for new trial which was based upon appellant’s contention that the prosecutor failed to disclose certain exculpatory evidence, a knife thought to be the murder weapon and test results run on that knife, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). We affirm.

The Court of Appeals set out the facts of the case as follows:

“Following appellant’s conviction, his attorney learned that the State’s Attorney had received information before trial that police had discovered a knife in connection with the case. The knife was supposedly found on the roof of a building near the scene of the crime but bore no discernible fingerprints. The State’s Attorney also had been told by his medical witness that blood found on the knife matched the blood of the deceased.
“The chief witness for the State, Mary Louise Johnson, long time girlfriend of appellant, testified that when the deceased and appellant began a fight in her apartment one night she immediately fled outside and saw nothing that occurred inside, but thereafter did see the deceased fleeing the apartment and being pursued by appellant who said, ‘Nigger, I will kill you.’ Both the deceased and appellant then disappeared behind the apartment building. Deceased was later found on the ground behind the apartment building bleeding to death from a stab wound in the chest. Johnson testified she saw no knife that night and never saw appellant with any weapon in his hands. No blood was found inside her apartment. She said she did not initially tell the police the true story, because appellant told her to lie if asked because he did not want to go back to the penitentiary.
“The only other witness called by the State for its case in chief was the Dallas County Medical Examiner, Dr. Charles Petty. Dr. Petty testified to two wounds on the deceased’s body: (1) an incised wound on the tip of the fourth finger, left hand, of a type which occurs when a person attempts to ward off attack by a sharp instrument; and (2) a stab wound on the back, just inside the left shoulder blade, deep enough to have opened the aorta and caused death. The latter wound was about one half inch in length and had one blunt or dull edge and one sharp edge, such as would be made by a kitchen knife.
“Testifying in his own defense, appellant admitted he got into a fight with deceased inside Johnson’s apartment and defended himself with a kitchen knife which he had taken shortly before from others engaged in a fight in a neighboring apartment. Although he did hit or cut the deceased with the knife and got blood on his own hands, he did not know the location of any wounds on the deceased’s body. He denied following the deceased from the apartment or threat[666]*666ening to kill him. Appellant admitted that after others discovered the deceased near death from a stab wound, Mary Johnson’s sister, Shirley, took the knife from appellant and threw it on the roof of the apartment building.
“The only fact witness called by appellant was Henry Johnson, no relation to the State’s witness, Mary Louise Johnson. Henry Johnson testified that after the homicide Mary Louise Johnson lived at his home in the same room with the appellant for over a month and did not appear to be afraid of appellant.
“Appellant’s Brady motion generally sought evidence or any information known to the State’s Attorney which would be favorable to appellant on the issue of his guilt or innocence, but did not specifically mention the murder weapon. It did specifically seek any exculpatory evidence tending to affect adversely the credibility of any State’s witness and exculpatory evidence resulting from any scientific test conducted in the case.” Butler v. State, 663 S.W.2d 492 (Tex.App. — Dallas, 1983).

In light of the facts set out above, we turn now to appellant’s contention that his constitutional rights were violated by the withholding of Brady material by the prosecution. The Supreme Court in Brady held that prosecution suppression of evidence favorable to a criminal defendant violates due process where the defendant requests the evidence and such evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution. A conviction must be reversed if the prosecution actively suppresses evidence or negligently or inadvertently fails to disclose evidence which may exonerate the defendant. Brady v. Maryland, supra; Crutcher v. State, 481 S.W.2d 113 (Tex.Cr.App.1972).

In determining whether reversible error has occurred, the Court set out three factors for analysis of a Brady question. Moore v. Illinois, 408 U.S. 786, 92 S.Ct. 2562, 33 L.Ed.2d 706 (1972). Those factors are (1) the suppression of such evidence by the prosecution after a request by the defense; (2) the evidence’s favorable character for the defense, and (3) the materiality of the evidence. This Court has since adopted the test. Coe v. State, 683 S.W.2d 431 (Tex.Cr.App.1984); Crawford v. State, 617 S.W.2d 925 (Tex.Cr.App.1980).

It is undisputed that appellant made a timely pretrial request for disclosure of all exculpatory evidence, reiterating that request throughout the proceedings. However, appellant never specifically requested disclosure of any alleged murder weapon; the only specific request being for the “results of any scientific or other tests conducted in this case.” . Where a general request is made, error only exists if there is a showing on appeal that undisclosed evidence exists which creates a reasonable doubt that did not otherwise exist. Green v. State, 587 S.W.2d 167 (Tex.Cr.App.1979). The instrumentality of the offense was a weapon with one sharp and one blunt edge, such as a kitchen knife. By appellant’s own testimony, he admitted bringing such a knife into the apartment when the fight with deceased began and admitted cutting deceased with the knife. The kitchen knife allegedly discovered on the rooftop more clearly may be described as inculpatory, not exculpatory evidence of the murder. We hold there is not a showing that disclosure of the knife itself would have created a reasonable doubt of appellant’s guilt or bolstered the defensive theory of self-defense.

The nondisclosure of test results run on the knife presents a closer question. Appellant made a specific request for disclosure of any such results. Where a defendant is diligent and makes a specific and relevant request for Brady

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Related

Brady v. Maryland
373 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Moore v. Illinois
408 U.S. 786 (Supreme Court, 1972)
United States v. Agurs
427 U.S. 97 (Supreme Court, 1976)
United States v. Bagley
473 U.S. 667 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Green v. State
587 S.W.2d 167 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Frank v. State
558 S.W.2d 12 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Quinones v. State
592 S.W.2d 933 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Crawford v. State
617 S.W.2d 925 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Coe v. State
683 S.W.2d 431 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Crutcher v. State
481 S.W.2d 113 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1972)
Butler v. State
663 S.W.2d 492 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Ex Parte Turner
545 S.W.2d 470 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Means v. State
429 S.W.2d 490 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1968)
Stone v. State
583 S.W.2d 410 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)

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