Dickens v. Court of Appeals for the Second Supreme Judicial District of Texas

727 S.W.2d 542, 1987 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 553
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1987
Docket69490
StatusPublished
Cited by258 cases

This text of 727 S.W.2d 542 (Dickens v. Court of Appeals for the Second Supreme Judicial District of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dickens v. Court of Appeals for the Second Supreme Judicial District of Texas, 727 S.W.2d 542, 1987 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 553 (Tex. 1987).

Opinions

OPINION

CAMPBELL, Judge.

This is an original mandamus proceeding brought by the Judge of the 297th District Court in Tarrant County (relator),1 to contest the issuance, by the Court of Appeals for the Second Supreme Judicial District (respondent), of a writ of mandamus directing relator to allow discovery of a complainant’s videotaped statement. Relator argues that the act of permitting discovery of evidence is a discretionary act of a trial judge reviewable only on appeal and, therefore, not the proper subject of a writ of mandamus. We agree and will grant relief.

I.

James Dean Reynolds is a defendant currently charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child. He is awaiting trial before the Judge of the 297th District Court. The defendant, through three defense attorneys, filed discovery motions seeking access to videotaped interviews of three complainant children which the State intends to use as evidence at trial.2 Judge Dickens held two hearings on the motions.

In the first hearing on November 2,1984, Reynolds requested, inter alia, that Dr. Helge, a child psychologist, be allowed to view the videotape prior to trial and that a copy of the video tape, at Reynolds’ expense, be made for use by his attorneys. Pursuant to Article 39.14, V.A.C.C.P., Judge Dickens denied both requests. Judge Dickens also rejected an oral request that Dr. Helge be excused from the “rule,” see Article 36.03, V.A.C.C.P., and be permitted to view the tape when it was offered in front of the jury. However, Judge Dickens ordered the State to make arrangements for all three defense attorneys to view the tape. The defense attorneys subsequently viewed the tape on November 7, 1984.

In the second hearing on November 12, 1984, Dr. Helge testified that he had already viewed the videotape on May 9,1984, and had made notes during the viewing. Dr. Helge testified that a second viewing [545]*545of the videotape would be “helpful” and “beneficial.”3 At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Dickens did not alter his earlier denial of Reynolds’ motions.

After the November 2 hearing, Reynolds sought a writ of mandamus from the Second Court of Appeals. Reynolds v. Dickens, 685 S.W.2d 479 (Tex.App.—Ft. Worth 1985). The Court of Appeals conditionally granted the mandamus with the expectation'“that Judge Dickens will vacate his order denying [Reynolds] the right to secure a copy of the videotape at [defendant’s] expense and denying [Reynolds’] psychologist expert witness [the right] to view such videotape_” Id. at 486. Judge Dickens then filed an application for writ of mandamus with this Court seeking review of the issuance of mandamus by the Second Court of Appeals.4

II.

Under the Texas Constitution, this Court has been granted broad power to issue writs of mandamus:

Subject to such regulations as may be prescribed by law, the Court of Criminal Appeals and the Judges thereof shall have the power to issue the writ of habe-as corpus, and, in criminal law matters, the writs of mandamus, procedendo, prohibition, and certiorari. The Court and the Judges thereof shall have the power to issue such other writs as may be necessary to protect its jurisdiction or enforce its judgments.

Tex. Const., Art. V, § 5 (emphasis added).

Prior to amendment in 1977, this Court only had power to issue writs of mandamus or prohibition to enforce its jurisdiction. Ordunez v. Bean, 579 S.W.2d 911 (Tex.Cr.App.1979). Effective January 1, 1978, this Court acquired the additional power to issue writs of mandamus in cases “regarding criminal matters.” Thomas v. Stevenson, 561 S.W.2d 845 (Tex.Cr.App.1978). The language of Article V, § 5, was further altered in an amendment effective January 1, 1981 by separating the sources of extraordinary writ power into two sentences.5 As reflected in the final text quoted above, the first sentence of Art. V, § 5, supra, grants this Court broad mandamus power “in criminal law matters;” the second sentence grants this Court power to issue “such other writs as may be necessary to protect its jurisdiction or enforce its judgments.” We have since held that these amendments conferred upon this Court general mandamus jurisdiction in criminal law matters “in addition to the previously existent mandamus and prohibition authority to enforce its own jurisdiction.” State ex rel. Wade v. Mays, 689 S.W.2d 893 (Tex.Cr.App.1985).

Article 4.04, § 1, V.A.C.C.P., simply repeats the language of Article V, § 5, supra. Therefore, the legislature has conferred on this Court the same power to issue extraordinary writs as enumerated in Article V, § 5, supra. See Dally and Brockway, Changes in Appellate Review in Criminal Cases Following the 1980 Constitutional Amendment, 13 St. Mary’s L.J. 211, 217 (1981).

In the instant case, the Second Court of Appeals issued a writ of mandamus order[546]*546ing discovery in a pending felony prosecution. That decision clearly required an interpretation of criminal discovery law. Therefore, this case involves a “criminal law matter” that invokes the power of this Court to issue original writs of mandamus under Article Y, § 5, supra.

Reynolds, citing Espinoza v. State, 669 S.W.2d 736 (Tex.Cr.App.1984), argues that this Court has held that review of mandamus actions of the courts of appeals lies in the Supreme Court of Texas. In Espinoza, supra, the defendant sought access to State records through the Open Records Act and filed an application for mandamus with the trial court.6 The trial court denied the application, the defendant was convicted, the court of appeals affirmed, and the defendant sought review of the denial of mandamus in his petition for discretionary review. We denied relief because the defendant, by filing the mandamus as a mere motion in the course of a pending criminal case, did not properly present the mandamus to the trial court. However, in dicta, this Court stated: “Review of a decree or judgment in a mandamus action would be through the appeals process for civil cases.” Id., at 738. In a footnote, we added: “To be distinguished are mandamus actions instituted in this Court under our original mandamus jurisdiction. A mandamus suit filed under Section 8 of the Open Records Act is not such a proceeding.” Id., at n. 1 (emphasis in original).

In Espinoza, supra, we did not hold that all mandamus actions must be reviewed through the civil appeals process. We simply noted, in dicta, that a mandamus under the Open Records Act was a civil matter which does not invoke this Court’s power under “criminal law matter” jurisdiction in Article Y, § 5, supra.

The instant case does not involve a mandamus pursuant to the Open Records Act. The instant case involves a mandamus from a court of appeals ordering criminal discovery in a pending prosecution. We hold that this procedural posture invokes the original mandamus jurisdiction of this Court “in criminal law matters.” Art. V, § 5, supra.

III.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
727 S.W.2d 542, 1987 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dickens-v-court-of-appeals-for-the-second-supreme-judicial-district-of-texcrimapp-1987.