Curtis v. State

754 S.W.2d 460, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1952, 1988 WL 83555
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 8, 1988
DocketNo. 05-87-00657-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 754 S.W.2d 460 (Curtis 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
Curtis v. State, 754 S.W.2d 460, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1952, 1988 WL 83555 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

KINKEADE, Justice.

John Allen Curtis appeals his jury conviction of murder and jury punishment of ten years probation and $10,000 fine. In three points of error Curtis claims: 1) the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on defense of third persons; 2) the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the police officers regarding his in-custody statements; and 3) ineffective assistance of counsel. We disagree and affirm the judgment.

Curtis and his client, Alan Galichia were drinking alcohol and talking one evening in Curtis’s office with decedent, William Per-rin, another attorney who shared offices with Curtis. At trial Curtis claimed that Perrin began waving a pistol menacingly at Curtis and Galichia, and threatening to kill them both. Galichia testified that Curtis, while waving a pistol himself, shot decedent. Both versions agree that Curtis knowingly and intentionally shot Perrin, killing him. Curtis claims he acted in self-defense. The decedent was later found slumped in a side chair in Curtis’s office with an empty gun tucked in his waistband. Curtis and Galichia ran from the building after the shooting and Curtis called the police.

After Officers Garcia and Ball arrived, they each questioned Curtis and later Galic-hia as to what had just occurred. Curtis gave conflicting stories, first stating that Perrin had shot at Curtis and was alive and still in the building. Galichia was then questioned by police and he said that both Curtis and Perrin had displayed handguns and that Curtis had shot Perrin. Curtis, after reflection, then stated that he (Curtis) may have had a gun and may have shot Perrin one time. Finally, Curtis stated that he may have shot Perrin twice. Curtis was then arrested and subsequently charged with the murder of the decedent.

In his first point of error, Curtis claims the trial court erred in failing to charge the jury on defense of third persons. Curtis filed a timely objection to the trial court’s failure to charge on the issue aforementioned. Texas Penal Code section 9.33 provides:

A person is justified in using force or deadly force against another to protect a third person if:
(1) under the circumstances as the actor reasonably believes them to be, the actor would be justified under Section 9.31 or 9.32 of this code in using force or deadly force to protect himself against the unlawful force or unlawful deadly force he reasonably believes to be threatening the third person he seeks to protect; and
(2) the actor reasonably believes that his intervention is immediately necessary to protect the third person.

[462]*462It is well established that if facts adduced at trial raise an issue and a charge on such issue is properly requested, then a charge on the issue must be given. Gutierrez v. State, 666 S.W.2d 248, 249 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1984, pet. ref’d).

Officer Ortega testified that he interviewed Curtis shortly after the shooting at the police station. Although Curtis told the officer three different versions of how the shooting occurred, Curtis consistently stated he believed that “he and Galic-hia were about to be killed” by the decedent. We hold this testimony sufficiently raises the issue of defense of third persons; and therefore, it was error not to give the requested charge.

In Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 157, 171 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) the Court set forth the manner in which a jury charge error is to be reviewed on appeal. The appellate court must undertake a two-step process of review. First, the court must determine if error exists in the charge. Second, the court must determine whether sufficient harm was caused by the error to require reversal of the conviction. When the error is preserved at trial, as in this case, the error must have been “calculated to injure the rights of [the] defendant.” Almanza, 686 S.W.2d at 171. Specifically, the defendant must have suffered “some actual, rather than theoretical, harm.” Arline v. State, 721 S.W.2d 348, 351 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). In determining whether the error was calculated to injure the rights of the accused, the court is required to review the relevant portions of the entire record to determine if any actual harm resulted. Arline, 721 S.W.2d at 352.

The trial court granted Curtis’s requested instruction on self-defense, and based upon the facts in this case we do not find that Curtis suffered any actual harm. Curtis couched his defense in terms of defending both himself and Galichia jointly, not Galichia alone. In this case the negative finding by the jury on the question of precluded any possible finding of defense of Galichia. Therefore, if the jury considered the self-defense question, it was harmless error, if any, to not instruct on the defense of third person issue. Under different circumstances the omission of this instruction could have been harmful error; however, we restrict our holding of harmless error to the facts in this case. We overrule Curtis’s first point of error.

In his second point of error, Curtis claims the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of the police regarding his “in-custody” statements when Curtis had not voluntarily or knowingly waived his Miranda 1 or other rights. Curtis further contends that his rights under the fourth, fifth, and fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution, article one, section nine of the Texas Constitution and article 38.22 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure were violated. We disagree.

At the outset we note that Curtis complains about the testimony of five police officers, specifically mentioning Officers Ball and Ortega. However, Curtis fails to direct the trial court’s attention to any specific statements made by any of the officers.

Officer Garcia testified without objection that he was the first officer to talk with Curtis who appeared intoxicated and was holding himself up by hanging on the car and the officer’s shoulder. Curtis told him that “somebody was shooting at him” and he wanted the police to take care of it.

Officer Ball testified that he questioned Curtis at the scene of the shooting attempting to discover why the police were needed and what, if any, additional action was required. Based on what Curtis was saying, Officer Ball decided that a S.W.A.T. team would be required to defuse the situation. Although Curtis appeared intoxicated, he was not under arrest at this time. A short time later Galichia returned to the scene and told Officer Ball that Curtis had a gun and shot the decedent. At this point Officer Ball asked Curtis “was there another gun involved?” Curtis replied, “I may have had a gun.” Officer Ball then asked, “Mr. Curtis, did you fire any shots?” Curtis said, “I may have fired a shot or two as [463]*463I ran out the door.” Officer Ball instructed Officer Henry to arrest, handcuff and “Mirandize” Curtis.

Officer Henry testified he arrived in the scene at 11:25 p.m., placed Curtis under arrest, handcuffed him, and read him the Miranda warning. Curtis kept interrupting the officer, stating “he knew his rights and that he didn’t need them read to him.” Finally after being interrupted three times by Curtis, the officer fully read Curtis his rights.

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Bluebook (online)
754 S.W.2d 460, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1952, 1988 WL 83555, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curtis-v-state-texapp-1988.