Cain v. State

747 S.W.2d 514, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 847, 1988 WL 32582
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 16, 1988
DocketNo. 2-87-093-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 747 S.W.2d 514 (Cain 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
Cain v. State, 747 S.W.2d 514, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 847, 1988 WL 32582 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

LATTIMORE, Justice.

Appellant, James Lynn Cain, appeals from a conviction by the court for burglary of a motor vehicle. See TEX.PENAL CODE ANN. sec. 30.02 (Vernon 1974). Appellant pled guilty to the court subsequent to the court’s denial of his motion to dismiss, reserving the right to appeal on speedy trial grounds. Punishment was assessed by the court at three years confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections.

Appellant brings four points of error on appeal alleging the trial court erred in failing to dismiss his case because he was denied a speedy trial under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, articles 32A.01 and 1.05, the sixth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 10 of the Texas Constitution.

On August 30, 1986, the date of the alleged offense, appellant was stopped by the police and then released. Appellant was later arrested in Tarrant County on October 21, 1986 for an unrelated offense. On or about November 12, 1986, appellant was taken before a magistrate in Fort Worth and informed that Denton County had charged him on October 16, 1986 with the offense out of which this case arises. Appellant has been continuously in custody based on the charge in Denton County from November 12, 1986. On March 25, 1987, the court held a hearing on appellant’s motion to dismiss based on speedy trial grounds. The court found from the evidence the failure to grant appellant a speedy trial was not a result of prosecutorial delay, but congested dockets. At no point did appellant waive his right to a speedy trial. On March 27,1987, pursuant to a plea bargain agreement, appellant pled guilty to the offense charged, and was sentenced by the court to three years con[516]*516finement in the Texas Department of Corrections. Appellant reserved the right to appeal on the issue of his right to a speedy trial.

By his first point of error, appellant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss because, while appellant was detained in jail, his trial was not given preference over trials of other criminal actions, thus violating section 32A.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Appellant contends that five cases, in which the accused was out on bond and/or waived the right to a speedy trial, were tried prior to his case and that he should have received priority in being brought to trial.

Section 32A.01 states “[ijnsofar as is practicable, the trial of a criminal action shall be given preference over trials of civil cases, and the trial of a criminal action against a defendant who is detained in jail pending trial of the action shall be given preference over trials of other criminal actions.” See TEX.CODE CRIM.PROC. ANN. art. 32A.01 (Vernon Pamph.Supp. 1988).

Article 32A.01 is directed to the trial courts of this State, as opposed to delay by prosecutors. See Barfield v. State, 586 S.W.2d 538, 541 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1979). The courts of appeals have opposing viewpoints as to whether the provisions of 32A.01 are mandatory or advisory. Garber v. State, 671 S.W.2d 94, 97 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1984, no pet.) (the order of trial priorities is mandatory, although flexible and subject to reasonable, good faith variation); Whittington v. State, 680 S.W. 2d 505, 508 (Tex.App.—Tyler 1984, pet. ref'd) (statute favoring trials of incarcerated defendants over non-incarcerated defendants was addressed in an advisory fashion to the courts). We are of the opinion that article 32A.01, as applied to the courts, is advisory; the language itself says “[ijnsofar as is practicable....” See TEX.CODE CRIM.PROC.ANN. art. 32A.01. Were it otherwise, the mechanics of operating the dockets would make it impossible for the courts to systematically hear all of the cases before them.

In addition to the language of article 32A.01 being advisory, an indictment will not be set aside for failure to comply with speedy trial provisions in absence of evidence that trial of the bonded defendant was accelerated to the detriment of the confined defendant, upon the motion of the prosecutorial authority. See Garber, 671 S.W.2d at 96.

Appellant specifically contends that there were five cases in which either non-incarcerated defendants or defendants who had waived their speedy trial rights had gone to trial prior to his case. Appellant was indicted on October 16, 1986, but not incarcerated for the present offense until November 12, 1986. He pled guilty on March 27, 1987.

Appellant complains of State v. Chitty, # 20-360-C; Chitty was charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. He was indicted on October 16, 1986 and tried the week of February 2, 1987. Chitty was in custody but had waived his speedy trial rights. The trial judge stated that this type of case is given priority due to the impact on the child. This is a substantial state interest, justifying an early trial. See Garber, 671 S.W.2d at 97.

Appellant further complains of the following cases: State v. Kelly, # 19-950-B, indicted on April 24, 1986 and tried on February 2, 1987; State v. Jackson, #20-105-A, tried on March 9, 1987; State v. Pirtle, # 20-003-C, tried on March 16, 1987; and State v. Huddleston, # 19-000-C, tried on February 9, 1987.

The letters A, B, and C denote which of the three district courts in Denton County that try criminal cases the case is assigned to; the numbers denote the age of the case, determined by the date of indictment. The district court clerk keeps records of this information. The cases are set in order and the speedy trial determinations are made within each court. Although only three of the four district courts hear criminal cases, the three courts are in a rotation system whereby, on any given week, one of those courts is a non-jury court, thus reducing the number of courts by which a jury trial may be obtained. The record specifi[517]*517cally shows the dates of weeks in which there' were holidays and a week long judicial conference. The court administrator for Denton County testified that preference is first given to the age of a case that has not waived speedy trial; the District Attorney makes the decision as to which cases will be tried.

The number assigned to the four remaining cases complained of by appellant shows that these cases were indicted prior to appellant’s case. Evidence shows that Kelly was indicted on April 24, 1986, approximately six months prior to appellant, and tried on February 2, 1987, only one and one-half months prior to appellant.

Appellant failed to produce evidence showing that he was prejudiced by other cases going to trial prior to his case. Given the above facts and circumstances, we are unable to conclude that there is error in appellant’s case not being given preference over the five cases he complains of. Point of error one is overruled.

By his second, third and fourth points of error, appellant alleges the trial court erred in refusing to grant his motion to dismiss based on speedy trial grounds, in violation of the United States and Texas Constitutions, and article 1.05 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

The right to a speedy trial is guaranteed by the sixth amendment to the United States Constitution made applicable to the States by the fourteenth amendment. Barker v. Wingo,

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Bluebook (online)
747 S.W.2d 514, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 847, 1988 WL 32582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cain-v-state-texapp-1988.