Collins v. State

672 S.W.2d 588, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5516
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 16, 1984
Docket2-83-284-CR, 2-83-285-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 672 S.W.2d 588 (Collins 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
Collins v. State, 672 S.W.2d 588, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5516 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

JOE SPURLOCK, II, Justice.

Appellant, Collins, was charged in a two count indictment, cause number 23228, with possession and delivery of a controlled substance, hydromorphone. An enhancement paragraph alleged a previous felony conviction. Collins pled not guilty to the charges and he was tried before the court without a jury. The court found Collins guilty of possession of a controlled substance and also found the enhancement allegation to be true. Collins then admitted his guilt to the charge contained in a second indictment, cause number 24022, which alleged the possession of a controlled substance, hydromorphone; and the court took such admitted offense into consideration in determining sentence. Punishment was assessed at confinement for life in the Texas Department of Corrections.

Collins appealed and the Court of Appeals for the Second Supreme Judicial District of Texas reversed the conviction and remanded the case to the trial court. Collins v. State, 642 S.W.2d 80 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1982, no pet.). A bench warrant was issued transferring Collins from the Texas Department of Corrections to the County Jail in Tarrant County so that he might be retried.

Collins filed an application for a writ of habeas corpus, claiming double jeopardy, and the trial court denied the relief requested by his application. Collins appeals the denial of relief under his application for a writ of habeas corpus.

We affirm.

Collins alleged four grounds of error. In grounds of error one, two and three, Collins contends that he is being illegally re *591 strained because the trial court erred in denying his application for writ of habeas corpus. He argues that he has already been tried and acquitted for the same offense, and a retrial is barred by the double jeopardy provisions of the Texas and United States Constitutions, Article 1.11 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, and the doctrine of collateral estoppel. In his ground of error four, Collins contends that retrial is barred by the misconduct of the prosecution at the prior trial. The trial events leading to his conclusions, and a discussion of the relevant trial evidence, show the following chain of circumstances.

Sometime prior to his arrest, the Fort Worth Police Department was informed that Collins was selling drugs in Fort Worth. A “buy bust” was arranged with the cooperation of a convicted felon, Sharon Diane Malone, in order to catch Collins during the course of an illegal narcotics transaction. In exchange for promises that certain charges would not be filed against her, Malone agreed to participate in the scheme to expose Collins’ unlawful activity.

On September 5, 1980, a Fort Worth police officer watched from inside a store as Malone, after having summoned Collins to that location, approached and entered Collins’ car. The officer observed Collins reach into his left shirt pocket and pull out a yellow envelope. At that time, the officer exited the store. Collins apparently saw the officer and quickly put the envelope down out of sight, between himself and Malone. Malone got out of the car and after Collins departed from the area, she showed the officer two dilaudid tablets which she had received from Collins. Collins was arrested some distance away, and a total of 87 other dilaudid tablets were seized from his car.

On March 23, 1981, a hearing began on Collins’ motion to assert the defense of entrapment. Collins called Malone to the stand to testify on his behalf as his only witness. Malone, testifying inconsistently with her grand jury testimony, stated that she never received any drugs from Collins and claimed that a detective told her to say that she had received drugs from Collins. The trial judge interrupted the testimony and questioned why the case had been brought to trial. He then said he was granting appellant’s motion on entrapment and the day’s proceedings came to an end.

On the following day, March 24, 1981, the State expressed its intention to proceed to trial. The trial judge restated his finding that there was entrapment in the sale. The State then objected to this ruling since it had never been allowed to present any evidence during the hearing. The court then seemed to indicate that it would reconsider the ruling which it had made the previous day and that appellant’s motion on entrapment would be heard simultaneously with the case in chief. Collins was then arraigned, he pled not guilty to the charges in cause number 23228, and his trial to the court began. After the conclusion of the testimony, the court rescinded its earlier ruling and held, after hearing all of the evidence, that there was no entrapment. The court then found Collins guilty beyond a reasonable doubt only of possession of hydromorphone, in cause number 23228, and found the enhancement allegation to be true. Collins then admitted his guilt to the charge contained in the second indictment, cause number 24022, which was taken into consideration in assessing punishment. The court sentenced Collins to confinement for life in the Texas Department of Corrections.

We note at the outset that Collins was found guilty only of the charge of possession of a controlled substance, in cause number 23228, and was acquitted of the charge of delivery of a controlled substance in the same indictment. Therefore, we find that any retrial of the delivery charge, in cause number 23228, is absolutely barred. Young v. State, 117 Tex.Cr.R. 349, 35 S.W.2d 424 (Tex.Cr.App.1931).

We find that retrial of the charges contained in cause number 24022 is not barred by the double jeopardy clause and that Collins may be retried for the charges contained in such indictment. Collins admitted his guilt to the charges contained in *592 cause number 24022, for the purpose of assessing punishment in the adjudicated offense in cause number 23228 pursuant to TEX.PENAL CODE ANN. § 12.45 (Vernon 1974). The court entered a judgment on Collins’ plea in bar and an order barring further prosecution for the charges contained in cause number 24022. By previous opinion of this court we reversed the judgment of the court in cause number 23228, Collins, supra. We therefore, find it necessary to set aside the judgment on plea in bar and order barring further prosecution in cause number 24022. We draw support for such action from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ decision in Ex parte Chisena, 623 S.W.2d 354 (Tex.Cr.App.1981).

In Ex parte Chisena, the defendant was found guilty of the charges contained in a cause number 28,273. In assessing punishment, the court took into consideration six separate unadjudicated offenses. The court found that the indictment in cause number 28,273, under which the defendant was convicted, failed to allege an offense. Therefore, the indictment was void. Ex parte Chisena, supra at 355. The court then went on to find that “[t]he indictment in cause number 28,273 being void, the court was without authority to assess punishment, and therefore could not ‘lawfully take into account’ the unadjudicated offenses, and the orders barring prosecution are likewise void.” Ex parte Chisena, supra at 355. In the present case the reversal of the court’s judgment in cause number 23228 is based on trial error.

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Bluebook (online)
672 S.W.2d 588, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-state-texapp-1984.