Ex Parte Bronson

254 S.W.2d 117, 158 Tex. Crim. 133, 1952 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1377
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 5, 1952
Docket25993
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 254 S.W.2d 117 (Ex Parte Bronson) 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
Ex Parte Bronson, 254 S.W.2d 117, 158 Tex. Crim. 133, 1952 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1377 (Tex. 1952).

Opinions

WOODLEY, Judge.

This is an appeal from an order of the county court of Dickens County, refusing to discharge appellant from confinement in the county jail following his conviction for selling whiskey in said county. The judgment of conviction was affirmed by this court (Bronson v. State, 247 S.W. 2d 563), and appellant was placed in jail to satisfy the 120 days and the $500 fine assessed.

One of the members of the jury before whom appellant was tried was an unpardoned convict, which fact was not known to the court or counsel or to appellant until after the appeal had been perfected.

Appellant contends that the judgment is void and, therefore, subject to this collateral attack because of this disqualified [134]*134juror. He relies upon our decision in Johnson v. State, 129 Tex. Cr. R. 162, 84 S.W. 2d 240, wherein Judge Lattimore, speaking for this court, said:

“We observe that final conviction for theft is expressly named in subdivision 3 of article 616, C.C.P., as ground for challenge for cause of a proffered juror, and that article 619, id., makes the fact of conviction for theft an absolute bar to the qualification of one who has been so convicted. In such case the incompetence of the juror cannot be waived, and the judgment and conviction would be void, and relief therefrom might be brought about by habeas corpus, but this court, upon the record before us, is in no position to act favorably.”

Article 616 C.C.P. reads in part as follows:

“A challenge for cause is an objection made to a particular juror, alleging some fact which renders him incapable or unfit to serve on the jury. It may be made for any one of the following reasons: . . .

“3. That he has been convicted of theft or any felony.

“4. That he is under indictment or other legal accusation for theft or any felony.

“5. That he is insane or has such defect in the organs of seeing, feeling or hearing, or such bodily or mental defect or disease as to render him unfit for jury service.”

Article 619 C.C.P. reads:

“No juror shall be impaneled when it appears that he is subject to the third, fourth or fifth clause of challenge in article 616, tho both parties may consent.”

This court has consistently construed these provisions of our statutes as providing an absolute disqualification for jury service. In Greer v. State, 14 Tex. App. 179, a theft case in which other sections of Art. 636 (now Art. 616 C.C.P.) were involved, the court remarked as to the third, fourth and fifth sections of the article as follows:

“A juror who is subject to challenge for any of the causes mentioned in the statute is not ipso facto absolutely incompetent as a juror, except in the cases mentioned in the third, fourth and fifth subdivisions of Article 636, which are: ‘Third. That he has been convicted of theft or of any felony. Fourth, That he is under indictment or other legal accusation for theft or for any felony. Fifth. That he is insane or has such defect in [135]*135the organs of seeing, feeling or hearing, or such bodily or mental defect or disease, as renders him unfit for jury service.’ With regard to such disabilities the statute is peremptory that ‘no juror shall be impaneled when it appears that he is subject either to the third, fourth or fifth cause of challenge in Article 636, although both parties may consent.’ ”

In Easterwood v. State, 34 Tex. Cr. R. 400, 31 S.W. 294, a murder case, it was discovered after verdict that a juror had been convicted of felony theft, and this was made a ground of the motion for new trial. The plea was denied only because it was shown that the juror had been pardoned.

In Rice v. State, 52 Tex. Cr. R. 359, 107 S.W. 832, a local option case, the judgment was reversed because a juror had been convicted of perjury and had not been pardoned. The court remarked that the disqualification contained in subdivision 3 of Art. 673 (now 616 C.C.P.) had been held to be absolute, citing Greer v. State and Easterwood v. State, supra.

In Hughes v. State, 105 Tex. Cr. R. 57, 284 S.W. 952, the conviction was reversed because it was shown on motion for new trial that one of the jurors who tried the case had been convicted of a felony, and his citizenship had not been restored. In this case Judge Lattimore, writing for the court, said:

“One who has been convicted for a felony is disqualified as a juror in this state. Subdivision 3, art. 692, Vernon’s Ann. Code Cr. Proc. 1916. This ground of disqualification cannot be waived.”

In Bundick v. State, 59 Tex. Cr. R. 9, 127 S.W. 543; Russell v. State, 84 Tex. Cr. R. 245, 209 S.W. 671; and Amaya v. State, 87 Tex. Cr. R. 160, 220 S.W. 98 it was shown for the first time on motion for new trial that a juror on the case was an unpardoned convict. On authority of the Greer, Easterwood, and Rice cases, the judgments were reversed. A similar reversal was ordered in Hooper v. State, 126 Tex. Cr. R. 118, 70 S.W. 2d, 431, when it was shown on motion for new trial that a juror had been convicted of misdemeanor theft.

In the Hooper case, after quoting from Arts. 616 and 619 C.C.P. this court, speaking through Judge Krueger, said:

“Ordinarily, the grounds for challenge set forth in said article may be waived, but when we consider article 619, C.C.P., we [136]*136are forced to the conclusion that no juror who is subject to the third, fourth, or fifth clause of challenge in article 616, supra, could sit in any case, although both parties may consent thereto. In other words, if a juror came within clause 3, 4, or 5 of article 616, supra, he would not be a qualified juror, and this, it seems, cannot be waived by the defendant. In support of the views herein expressed, we refer to the following authorities: Greer v. State, 14 Tex. App. 179; Rice v. State, 52 Tex. Cr. R. 359, 107 S.W. 832. Hence we are forced to the conclusion that the trial court erred in refusing to grant the appellant’s motion for new trial.”

And in Amaya v. State, supra, Judge Morrow, speaking for the court, said:

“The construction given our statute has been uniform to the effect that it is the imperative duty of the trial court or the reviewing court to set aside a verdict which was rendered by the jury, a member of which was an unpardoned convict. Wright v. State, 52 Tex. Cr. R. 542, 107 S.W. 822; Bundick v. State, 59 Tex. Cr. R. 10, 127 S.W. 543; Easterwood v. State, 34 Tex. Cr. R. 400, 31 S.W. 294; Greer v. State, 14 Tex. App. 179.”

(The first citation was evidently intended for Rice v. State, 52 Tex. Cr. R. 359, 107 S.W. 832.)

In Tweedle v. State, 153 Tex. Cr. R. 200, 218 S.W. 2d 846, the trial judge discovered that one of the impaneled jurors was under indictment for felony theft. The judge, upon discovering this fact, in order to dispose of the question, instructed the jury to convict Tweedle and, after entering judgment on the verdict, granted him a new. trial. Upon appeal from a conviction before another jury, we held that Tweedle was not entitled to complain of the court’s action in view of the granting of his motion for a new trial.

In the opinion in the Tweedle case Judge Krueger, writing for the court, quoted Articles 616, 618, and 619 C.C.P., and said:

“It would seem from the foregoing articles that if a juror was under indictment for the offense of felony theft, he is a disqualified juror.

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Bluebook (online)
254 S.W.2d 117, 158 Tex. Crim. 133, 1952 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1377, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-bronson-texcrimapp-1952.