Ex Parte Cavazos

203 S.W.3d 333, 2006 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1969, 2006 WL 2861014
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 4, 2006
DocketAP-75,269
StatusPublished
Cited by443 cases

This text of 203 S.W.3d 333 (Ex Parte Cavazos) 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 Cavazos, 203 S.W.3d 333, 2006 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1969, 2006 WL 2861014 (Tex. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION

JOHNSON, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which PRICE, WOMACK, KEASLER, HERVEY, HOLCOMB, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

An indictment returned in 1992 charged applicant with two counts of burglary of a habitation. Tex. Penal Code § 30.02. Both counts arose from the same incident, but involved different complainants.1 The first count charged applicant with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft, while the second count charged applicant with burglary of a habitation with intent to commit sexual assault. Applicant plead not guilty.

The state presented evidence at the guilt phase of the trial that applicant entered the complainants’ home by removing a screen and climbing through an open window. Once inside, applicant stole money from one complainant and, in another room in the home, grabbed the leg of the other complainant while she slept, and then fled the scene.2 A jury convicted applicant on both counts of burglary of a habitation. A habitual offender, applicant was sentenced to two concurrent terms of twenty-five years’ imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Correctional Institutions Division. Tex. Penal Code § 12.42. No appeal was taken.

This Court filed and set applicant’s application for habeas corpus. The issue before us is whether convicting applicant of two counts of burglary of a habitation, each with a different complainant but arising from a single unlawful entry, violates the Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution.3 Applicant argues that the gravamen of the burglary offense is the unlawful entry of a habitation and that once such entry is made, the burglary offense is complete. Applicant concludes that his conviction on two counts of burglary of a habitation arising out of the same entry constitutes multiple punishments for the same offense,4 and that such punishment is contrary to the legislative intent of [336]*336the burglary statute and a violation of the United States Constitution.

The Fifth Amendment provides that no person “shall ... be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.... ” U.S. Const, amend. V. The United States Supreme Court has concluded that the Fifth Amendment offers three separate constitutional protections: (1) protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal; (2) protection against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction; and (3) protection against multiple punishments for the same offense. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969), overruled on other grounds by Alabama v. Smith, 490 U.S. 794, 109 S.Ct. 2201, 104 L.Ed.2d 865 (1989); Lopez v. State, 108 S.W.3d 293, 295-96 (Tex.Crim.App.2003). The instant case, as applicant correctly claims, implicates the third of these guarantees, protection against multiple punishments for the same offense.

This Court has pointed out that “[a] defendant suffers multiple punishments in violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause when he is convicted of more offenses than the legislature intended.” Ervin v. State, 991 S.W.2d 804, 807 (Tex.Crim.App.1999)(citing Ball v. United States, 470 U.S. 856, 105 S.Ct. 1668, 84 L.Ed.2d 740 (1985)). However, the Double Jeopardy Clause imposes few, if any, limitations on the legislative power to establish and define offenses. Ex parte Hawkins, 6 S.W.3d 554, 556 (Tex.Crim.App.1999)(citing Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977)). The legislature, therefore, determines whether offenses are the same for double-jeopardy purposes by defining the “allowable unit of prosecution.” Id. (citing Sanabria v. United States, 437 U.S. 54, 98 S.Ct. 2170, 57 L.Ed.2d 43 (1978)). The legislature also decides whether a particular course of conduct involves one or more distinct offenses under a given statute. Id. Consequently, the scope of the Double Jeopardy Clause’s protection against multiple punishments under the burglary statute depends on ascertaining the allowable unit of prosecution.

Citing Ex parte Gonzalez,5 the state distinguishes between “conduct-oriented” and “possession-oriented” statutes in determining the allowable unit of prosecution in a burglary of a habitation. The state concludes, without citation to any specific authority, that burglary of a habitation is a conduct-oriented statute, thereby making the complainant, rather than the unlawful entry, the allowable unit of prosecution. The state argues that double jeopardy is not implicated because the offenses for which applicant was convicted occurred in separately occupied parts of the same house and involved two different complainants. The state’s reliance on this position is misplaced.

The plain meaning of the version of Tex. Penal Code § 30.02(a) that was in effect at the time applicant committed the offenses indicates that a person commits the offense of burglary of a habitation if, without the effective consent of the owner, he:

(1) enters a habitation, or a building (or any portion of a building) not open to the public, with intent to commit a felony or theft; or
(2) remains concealed, with intent to commit a felony or theft, in a building or habitation; or
[337]*337(3) enters a building or habitation and commits or attempts to commit a felony or theft.6

Chapter 30 of the Penal Code is titled “Burglary and Criminal Trespass.” Chapter 30 is part of Title 7 of the Penal Code, “Offenses Against Property.” As applicant suggests, the gravamen of a burglary is the entry without the effective consent of the owner and with the requisite mental state. DeVaughn v. State, 749 S.W.2d 62, 65 (Tex.Crim.App.1988). This Court has found that, when a burglary is committed, the harm results from the entry itself. Richardson v. State, 888 S.W.2d 822, 824 (Tex.Crim.App.1994). The offense is complete once the unlawful entry is made, without regard to whether the intended theft or felony is also completed. Id.

The allowable unit of prosecution for an assaultive offense is each complainant. See Phillips v. State, 787 S.W.2d 391, 394-95 (Tex.Crim.App.1990)(assault); Ex parte Rathmell,

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Bluebook (online)
203 S.W.3d 333, 2006 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1969, 2006 WL 2861014, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-cavazos-texcrimapp-2006.