Clark v. State

500 S.W.2d 469, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1902
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided October 24, 1973·No. 46591·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinion

OPINION

DAVIS, Commissioner.

Appeal is taken from a conviction for murder. Punishment was assesed by the jury at twenty years.

The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged.

At the outset, appellant contends that the record does not reflect that there was a duly authorized judge presiding at the trial of this cause.

Appellant urges that the administrative assignment of the Hon. R. W. Wil-liford to the 177th District Court is invalid and does not authorize Judge Williford to try cases in the 176th District Court in which this cause was tried. Arguments advanced by appellant under this contention have been answered adversely to him in recent opinions of this Court. Peach v. State, 498 S.W.2d 192; Gregory v. State, 495 S.W.2d 891; Reed v. State, 500 S.W. 2d 137.

Appellant contends that the court erred in overruling his motion for mistrial following a question asked appellant’s witness on cross-examination at the punishment stage of the trial.

Mrs. Lessie Broussard testified that she had known appellant “ever since the day she was born,” and that appellant had never been convicted of a felony in this or any other state.

On cross-examination, the following question was asked:

“Q. Are you saying you are completely aware of this Defendant’s police record?”

Appellant’s objection to the question was sustained and the jury was instructed to disregard the question. Motion for mistrial was overruled.

The witness’ testimony on direct was nothing more than that appellant had 1 never been convicted of a felony in this or any other state. Thus, appellant’s reputation had not been put in issue on direct examination. See and cf. Childs v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 491 S.W.2d 907. Even if appellant’s reputation had been put in issue, the question would have been improper. Brown v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 477 S.W.2d 617. 1

An instruction to disregard will cure error “except in extreme cases where it appears that the question or evidence is clearly calculated to inflame the minds of the jury and is of such character as to suggest the impossibility of withdrawing the impression produced on their minds.” Mays v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 434 S.W.2d 140; see Hopkins v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 480 S.W.2d 212; Guerra v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 478 S.W.2d 483.

Did the court’s instruction in the instant case cure the improper question? *471 Appellant cites Webber v. State, 472 S.W. 2d 136 and Jones v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 479 S.W.2d 307, in urging that the question’s harmfulness cannot be cured by the court’s instruction. In Webber v. State, supra, this Court concluded that the “fair interpretation” of the prosecutor’s question “was to assert as a matter of fact that the appellant had been caught shoplifting” when the witness was asked: “. have you heard that Mr. Webber was expelled from Baylor University, when he was caught shoplifting.” This Court held in Webber that the harmfulness of the question was not cured by the court’s instruction to disregard. In Jones v. State, supra, this Court held that where there was no evidence that defendant had been convicted of any offense based on his walking in front of a downtown parade in the nude, admission of three nude photographs of defendant, over objection, at punishment stage of trial constituted reversible error. The complained of question in the instant case, “Are you saying that you are completely aware of this Defendant’s police record?,” while improper, does not amount to a positive assertion of the commission of another offense as did the question in Webber or the exhibiting of the pictures in Jones. We conclude that in view of the court’s instruction to disregard, the question was not so harmful as to require reversal.

Further, Mrs. Broussard, shortly after the complained of question, offered the non-responsive statement, “I do know for a fact that the only time Carolyn has been in jail and charged with anything is this murder.” The witness had previously testified that she had maintained a close relationship with appellant “ever since the day she was born.” Thus, the error in asking the question was rendered harmless by the non-responsive statement of the witness. See Rice v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 480 S.W.2d 694; Mahaffey v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 471 S.W.2d 801.

We perceive no reversible error.

Lastly, appellant urges that the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of a witness that appellant’s reputation for being a peaceful and law-abiding citizen was bad over the objection that the witness was not properly qualified to state an opinion.

Appellant urges that Officer Williams was not properly qualified to testify as to appellant’s reputation as a peaceful and law-abiding citizen since Williams admitted that he had not discussed appellant’s reputation with anyone. In the presence of the jury Williams testified he knew such reputation of the appellant. The jury was then removed and it was developed that Williams, along with another officer, attempted to arrest appellant on February 12, 1972 for “an aggravated assault upon a police officer” — “a drunken brawl.”

Williams testified that it was “quite a brawl” and it was necessary to call for additional police in order to effect the arrest of appellant, and that during the “brawl” a number of neighbors approached him and he engaged in conversation with them. One of those persons who approached the officer identified himself as appellant’s common-law husband. Williams’ testimony reflects the following encounter:

“He said, ‘Let me talk to her.’ He said, ‘She gets like this a lot.’ He said, ‘Let me talk to her. I can straighten her out.’ ”
* ⅜ * * * ⅜ “After trying to talk to her and calm her down, he said, ‘It is useless.’ He said for us to take her to jail.
“She started fighting him, too.”

Williams testified that later he had a conversation “about her with the other three officers involved there.” Then later he was asked:

“Q Then based upon this knowledge of her, were you able to ascertain her *472 reputation among the citizens of the community as to her general reputation, including yourself and other officers, her neighbors and members of her family.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Clark v. State, 500 S.W.2d 469, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1902 (Tex. 1973).

500 S.W.2d 469 (Clark v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Joshua Taylor Weedon v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
Alberto Rocha v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010
Zemen v. State
912 S.W.2d 363 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995)
Stewart v. State
699 S.W.2d 695 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Flannery v. State
673 S.W.2d 592 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Hoffert v. State
623 S.W.2d 141 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1981)
Legg v. State
594 S.W.2d 429 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Ward v. State
591 S.W.2d 810 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Beecham v. State
580 S.W.2d 588 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Lovilotte v. State
550 S.W.2d 75 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Carey v. State
537 S.W.2d 757 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1976)
Allen v. State
533 S.W.2d 352 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1976)
Williams v. State
531 S.W.2d 606 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1976)
Mitchell v. State
524 S.W.2d 510 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1975)
Pearce v. State
513 S.W.2d 539 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1974)
Guerrero v. State
507 S.W.2d 765 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1974)