DeVaughn v. State

678 S.W.2d 143
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 15, 1984
Docket04-83-00094-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 678 S.W.2d 143 (DeVaughn 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
DeVaughn v. State, 678 S.W.2d 143 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

678 S.W.2d 143 (1984)

Lernard DeVAUGHN, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 04-83-00094-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, San Antonio.

August 15, 1984.
Rehearing Denied September 12, 1984.

*145 Mark Stevens, San Antonio, for appellant.

Sam Millsap, Jr., Dist. Atty., Edwin E. Springer, Edward Coffey, Edward F. Shaughnessy, III, Asst. Criminal Dist. Attys., San Antonio, for appellee.

Before CADENA, C.J., and CANTU and TIJERINA, JJ.

OPINION

CANTU, Justice.

Appellant seeks review of his conviction for the first degree felony offense of burglary of a habitation. TEX.PENAL CODE ANN. § 30.02(a)(3) (Vernon 1974).

Trial was to a jury and punishment was assessed by the trial court at ten (10) years' confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections.

Appellant challenges trial court rulings refusing to grant motions to dismiss for failure to afford a speedy trial and to quash the indictment. The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged.

Appellant, eighteen years old at the time of the offense, was arrested by Live Oak police officers on August 9, 1982 for a burglary which forms the basis of the instant conviction. A confession[1] was obtained by the arresting officers; however, appellant, rather than being booked, was released to his parents.

On October 20, 1982, the Bexar County Grand Jury returned an indictment and a capias warrant issued. On October 26, 1982, the State filed an announcement of ready for trial containing the rubber stamped signature of an assistant criminal district attorney. Appellant was rearrested as a post-indictment fugitive on November 9, 1982.

On November 22, 1982 while appellant remained incarcerated, counsel was appointed by the trial court to represent him.

On December 13, 1982, appellant appeared before the trial court, waived pretrial arraignment, filed a motion seeking the appointment of an investigator, filed discovery and suppression motions and sought a continuance of the case for 60 days and until such time as the investigation of the case was completed and pre-trial motions disposed of.

In addition to the filing of the aforesaid motions, appellant in open court and with approval of the State's attorney, his defense attorney and the trial court, agreed in writing:

... that in computing the time by which the State must be ready for trial under Art. 32A.02, C.C.P., a period of 60 days should be excluded.

Acknowledged and agreed:

... that the State of Texas through its District Attorney, Bexar County, announced ready for trial on December 13, 1982 ...
... that the defendant waives all of his rights to a speedy trial afforded by the Constitutions of Texas and the United States ...
... that the defendant waives his right to move for discharge under the provisions of Article 32A.02, Texas C.C.P....

In accordance with appellant's request, the cause was continued for the time requested and reset for trial on February 14, 1983.

On February 11, 1983, appellant filed his motion to quash indictment and on February 14, 1983, the case being called for trial, *146 hearings were had on pending motions to suppress and motions to quash.

Numerous other trial motions including a motion to dismiss for failure to afford a speedy trial were filed on the day of trial, February 15, 1983.

The trial court did not conduct a hearing on appellant's 32A.02 motion until February 18, 1983, after the jury had returned its guilty verdict but before the punishment phase began.

At the commencement of the hearing, the trial court acknowledged that appellant "wanted a hearing [on his speedy trial motion] before the trial, and I kept putting him off ..."

The State argues that appellant's motion was not timely filed under the Speedy Trial Act because it was filed on the day of trial. Numerous cases have commented on an accused's failure to file his motion prior to the date of trial. See Jumper v. State, 636 S.W.2d 502 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1982, no pet.); Maddox v. State, 635 S.W.2d 456 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1982, no pet.); Kennedy v. State, 630 S.W.2d 509 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 1982, no pet.); Finch v. State, 629 S.W.2d 876 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth), pet. granted, 643 S.W.2d 414, 415, on remand, 638 S.W.2d 215, pet. dism'd, 643 S.W.2d 415, 416 (1982); Leal v. State, 626 S.W.2d 866 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1981, no pet.); Rocha v. State, 624 S.W.2d 789 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1981, no pet.). However, in each of those cases, we believe the controlling factor to be a failure to PRESENT the motion to the trial court for a ruling prior to announcing ready for trial and actually entering his plea.

The State relies on TEX.CODE CRIM. PROC.ANN. art. 32A.02, § 3 (Vernon Supp.1984) which provides:

The failure of a defendant to move for discharge under the provisions of this article prior to trial or the entry of a plea of guilty constitutes a waiver of the rights accorded by this article.

See Humphrey v. State, 646 S.W.2d 949, 950 (Tex.Crim.App.1983); Rocha v. State, 624 S.W.2d at 790.

The instant case is more akin to Finch v. State, 643 S.W.2d at 415 (See lower court opinions at 629 S.W.2d 876, on remand, 638 S.W.2d 215).

The trial court's actions and comments support a conclusion that the motion was timely presented for consideration and that total fault in not ruling on it prior to commencing the trial was the trial court's. We hold that appellant preserved his speedy trial issue for review. Finch v. State, 643 S.W.2d at 415.

Appellant argues that the evidence adduced at the hearing effectively discredited the State's announcement of ready filed on October 26, 1982. We need not, however, decide whether appellant is correct in such assertion because the record indicates, independent of the hearing proof, that the State's announcement of ready on October 26, 1982 was rebutted.

Appellant was a post-indictment fugitive at the time the State filed its announcement and, therefore, the State did not and could not have secured his presence for trial until November 9, 1982, the date of his arrest.

In Newton v. State, 641 S.W.2d 530, 530 (Tex.Crim.App.1982), the Court held that the accused's absence at the time of the State's announcement of ready conclusively rebuts the prima facie showing of readiness made by the State. In doing so, the Court recognized that a contrary holding would in effect, emasculate much of the legislative intent evidenced by the statutory exclusions in TEX.CODE CRIM.PROC. ANN. art. 32A.02, § 4 (Vernon Supp.1984).

While the State may have been ready for trial from an evidentiary standpoint, it could not have been ready for trial, under Article 32A.02 without the presence of the appellant. See Stokes v. State, 666 S.W.2d 493, 494 (Tex.Crim.App.1983); Newton v. State, supra at 531; see also Lyles v. State, 636 S.W.2d 268, 271 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1982), aff'd, 653 S.W.2d 775 (Tex. Crim.App.1983).

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678 S.W.2d 143, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/devaughn-v-state-texapp-1984.