Clark v. State

500 S.W.2d 107, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2242
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided October 10, 1973·No. 46549·Published·Cited by 30 cases

Opinion

OPINION

JACKSON, Commissioner.

The conviction was for burglary on a plea of not guilty before a jury; the punishment, life enhanced under Article 63, Vernon’s Ann.P.C. because of two prior felony convictions.

Ground of error number one is that the court should have granted his motion for new trial because he was harmed by the failure of his counsel to move for a reduction of his bail.

When appellant was indicted herein for burglary with allegations of two prior felony convictions to enhance the punishment to life under Article 63, V.A.P.C., the court set his bail at $25,000. He made no complaint of the amount of bail set by the court until his motion for new trial. There was no motion or habeas corpus proceeding seeking a reduction. He now says that perhaps if he had been at liberty on bail he might have discovered evidence which would have been beneficial to him on the trial, but does not point out or show what evidence he now has in mind. Hence, there is nothing in the record to show that the bail was excessive, that he could not furnish this bail, or that he was harmed on the trial by the requirement of $25,000 bail. No merit is shown, and we overrule ground of error number one.

See 8 Tex.Jur.2d, Par. 33, pp. 155-157.

Ground of error number two advanced by appellant is that the court erred in excusing one of the jurors during the trial because of emotional disability and proceeding with eleven jurors.

After the jurors were sworn and before the charge was read, the following occurred :

“THE COURT: In cause No. 43,737, The State of Texas v. Essie B. Clark, now it is the finding of this Court that one of the jurors, namely, J. B. Reagan, is emotionally disabled, due to the death of his father-in-law in the State of Louisiana, and that it is necessary that he proceed immediately to the State of Louisiana with his wife. Is there any objection to that ?
“MR. SCARBOROUGH: No objection ; so agreed.
*109 “THE COURT: And already, Mr. District Attorney, you have agreed to proceed with eleven jurors?
“MR. SCARBOROUGH: That is correct.
“THE COURT: And you agree to proceed with eleven jurors?
“MR. DARROUZET (Defense Counsel) : Yes.
“THE COURT: And you, Mr. Essie B. Clark, agree to proceed with eleven jurors?
“THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.”

The trial proceeded with eleven jurors and the verdict of guilty was signed by all eleven, as was also the verdict at the conclusion of the punishment phase of the trial.

Article 36.29, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P., provides as follows:

“Not less than twelve jurors can render and return a verdict in a felony case. It must be concurred in by each juror and signed by the foreman; provided, however, when pending the trial of any felony case, one juror may die or be disabled from sitting at any time before the charge of the court is read to the jury, the remainder of the jury shall have the power to render the verdict; but when the verdict shall be rendered by less than the whole number, it shall be signed by every member of the jury concurring in it. After the charge of the court is read to the jury, if any one of them becomes so sick as to prevent the continuance of his duty, or any accident of circumstance occurs to prevent their being kept together under circumstances under which the law or the instructions of the court requires that they be kept together, the jury may be discharged. Acts 1965, 59th Leg., vol. 2, p. 317, ch. 722.”

In Griffin v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 486 S.W.2d 948, a juror became disabled because he was arrested for driving while intoxicated during the noon recess. The court decided that the juror was disabled and proceeded with eleven jurors. In sustaining the action of the trial court, it was there said:

“Disabled, as used herein, means any condition that inhibits the juror from fully and fairly performing the functions of a juror. Absent an abuse of discretion by the trial judge in determining disability of the juror, no reversible error is shown.”

Here the court found that the juror was disabled. Both appellant in person and his attorney agreed to this finding and to proceed with eleven jurors. Evidently they did not consider that the judge was abusing his discretion, else an issue could have been made and evidence heard, from which this Court might determine whether abuse of discretion existed. We perceive none, and overrule ground of error number two.

By his ground of error number three, appellant contends that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury verdict of guilty.

A. B. Campbell testified that he was the assistant manager of Burkhalter Spring Company in Austin and was in charge of the premises on December 18, 1971; that he locked the doors of the building before leaving; that shortly before midnight he returned to the premises and found that the building had been forcibly entered and burglarized, and that a number of items were missing, vending machines were opened, and the premises were generally in disarray; that there was an inner office in the building which had also been forcibly entered and the safe had been removed therefrom and was outside the building.

Burkhalter Spring Company was authorized to issue State Vehicle Inspection Stickers and at the time of the burglary 108 of these stickers, numbers P-177567 consecutively through P-177675, were in the safe, and were discovered to be miss *110 ing. Two of these stickers were later found in appellant’s billfold.

Campbell testified that customers did not normally come into the office where the safe was kept, and although he had worked for Burkhalter for a year he had never seen and did not know appellant. Appellant did not testify or offer any evidence showing any explanation of how his palm print, which was found on the safe after the burglary, could have gotten there in any other manner than in the perpetration of the burglary in question.

Shortly after midnight of December 18, 1971, in the early morning hours of December 19, 1971, Officer Lamoreaux of the Austin Police Department, an identification technician, duly qualified as to his expertise, lifted from the safe in question a latent palm print, a photograph of which was admitted in evidence as State’s Exhibit 3B.

Jack Mercer of the Texas Department of Public Safety, having duly qualified as an expert, testified that he had compared State’s Exhibit 3B with State’s Exhibit No. S, a known palm print of appellant, and that in his opinion they were made by the same person. Officer Lamoreaux also testified that in his opinion the latent print lifted from the safe was made by the same person who made the known print of appellant.

Albert W. Summerford, testifying for the defense, also qualified as an expert, expressed the opinion that he was not able to identify the known print with the print lifted from the safe because the latter was not clear enough for comparison.

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Clark v. State, 500 S.W.2d 107, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2242 (Tex. 1973).

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