Crider v. State

848 S.W.2d 308
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 9, 1993
Docket2-91-352-CR, 2-91-353-CR and 2-91-354-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 848 S.W.2d 308 (Crider 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
Crider v. State, 848 S.W.2d 308 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION

LATTIMORE, Justice.

In 1987, Henry Abbott Crider was indicted twice for the felony offense of driving while intoxicated (DWI) after having previously been convicted of DWI two or more times. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6701Z-1(e) (Vernon Supp.1993). Both indictments also included the enhancement count of a 1976 conviction for the offense of murder while DWI under former 1925 Tex.Penal Code art. 802c. 1 On December 1, 1988, Crider pled “guilty” to the offense charged in both indictments and “true” to the enhancement allegation in both indictments. The trial court assessed punishment at ten years confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections 2 for each conviction. Both sentences were suspended and Crider was placed on probation for ten years for each conviction. The record does not show that Crider appealed either conviction at the time he was placed on probation.

In 1990, Crider was again indicted for the felony offense of DWI after having previously been convicted of DWI two or more times. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6701Z-1(e) (Vernon Supp.1993). This indictment included the same enhancement count of the 1976 conviction for the offense of murder while DWI under article 802c. On July 17, 1991, a jury found Crider guilty of the offense charged and he pled “true” to the enhancement allegation. Based on these findings, the trial court assessed punishment at twenty years confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

On July 17, 1991, the trial court also heard the State’s motion to revoke probation for the two 1988 felony DWI convictions. The trial court granted the State’s motion and further ordered that Crider’s two ten-year sentences and one twenty-year sentence run consecutively. On October 9, 1991, Crider filed a separate notice of appeal for each of the three convictions *310 to challenge the manner in which the trial court assessed punishment. We affirm the trial court.

Points of Error

In his first point of error, Crider asserts that the trial court erred by enhancing the punishments pursuant to Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 12.42(a) (Vernon 1974) instead of the special enhancement provisions in Tex. Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6701Z-1 (Vernon Supp.1993). These statutes provide, in pertinent part, as follows:

§ 12.42. Penalties for Repeat and Habitual Felony Offenders
(a) If it be shown on the trial of a third-degree felony that the defendant has been once before convicted of any felony, on conviction he shall be punished for a second-degree felony.
Art. 6701Í-1. Intoxicated driver; penalty
(e) If it is shown on the trial of an offense under this article that the person has previously been convicted two or more times of an offense under this article, the offense is punishable by:
(1) a fine of not less than $500 or more than $2,000; and
(2) confinement in jail for a term of not less than 30 days or more than two years or imprisonment in the state penitentiary for a term of not less than 60 days or more than five years.

Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 12.42(a) (Vernon 1974); Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6701A-1(e) (Vernon Supp.1993).

In this appeal, Crider is attacking the sentences imposed for all three convictions. As to the two 1988 convictions, however, we find that his complaint is too late. The failure to timely appeal from a conviction resulting in probation waives the right to appeal. See Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 42.12 § 26(b) (Vernon Supp.1993); Hoskins v. State, 425 S.W.2d 825, 828 (Tex.Crim.App.1967) (opinion on reh’g); Sanders v. State, 657 S.W.2d 817, 819 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1983, no pet.). Article 42.12 § 26(b) provides, in pertinent part, that:

The right of the probationer to appeal to the Court of Appeals for a review of the trial and conviction, as provided by law, shall be accorded the probationer at the time he is placed on probation. When he is notified that his probation is revoked for violation of the conditions of probation and he is called on to serve a sentence in a jail or in an institution operated by the Department of Corrections, he may appeal the revocation.

Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 42.12 § 26(b) (Vernon Supp.1993) (emphasis added). Any complaint Crider had as to the sentences assessed, but then suspended, for the 1988 convictions should have been made at the time he was placed on probation.

As to the 1991 conviction, we find that the trial court properly enhanced Cri-der’s punishment pursuant to the general enhancement provision in Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 12.42(a). A special enhancement provision for a primary offense bars enhancement under a general statute only for prior offenses that could be used within the special provision. Phifer v. State, 787 S.W.2d 395, 396 (Tex.Crim.App.1990). The only prior offenses that could be used to enhance a felony DWI pursuant to article 6701/-1 are those included as “an offense under this article.” See Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. Ann. art. 6701Z-l(e) (Vernon Supp.1993). The offense used to enhance in this case was a conviction for the offense of murder while DWI under former 1925 Tex.Penal Code art. 802c. Article 802c provided, in pertinent part, that:

Any person who drives or operates an automobile ... upon any public road or highway in this State ... while such person is intoxicated or under the influence of intoxicating liquor, and while so driving and operating such automobile ... shall through accident or mistake do another act which if voluntarily done would be a felony, shall receive the punishment affixed to the felony actually committed.

Act of June 17, 1941, 47th Leg., R.S., ch. 507, § 3, 1941 Tex.Gen.Laws 819, 820 (repealed 1974).

*311 The phrase “an offense under this article” is defined by article 6701/-l(g) to include “a conviction for an offense under Article 6701/-1 or 6701/-2, Revised Statutes, as those laws existed before January 1,1984.” Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6701/-1(g) (Vernon Supp.1993). After tracing both of these articles back through the various amendments to their origins, it is revealed that neither article ever addressed the offense described in article 802c. As such, murder while DWI is not “an offense under this article” and, therefore, is not available for use under the special enhancement provisions of article 6701/-1. See Phifer, 787 S.W.2d at 397.

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848 S.W.2d 308, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crider-v-state-texapp-1993.