Ex Parte Drinkert

821 S.W.2d 953, 1991 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 260, 1991 WL 253116
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 4, 1991
Docket71205
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 821 S.W.2d 953 (Ex Parte Drinkert) 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 Drinkert, 821 S.W.2d 953, 1991 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 260, 1991 WL 253116 (Tex. 1991).

Opinions

OPINION

MALONEY, Judge.

This is a post conviction application for writ of habeas corpus filed pursuant to article 11.07, V.A.C.C.P.

The jury convicted applicant of murder following his plea of not guilty and the court sentenced him to fifteen years in prison. The Thirteenth Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction in an unpublished opinion. Drinkert v. State, No. 13-90-4-CR (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1990, no pet.).

In the instant application, applicant contends: (1) the evidence established self-defense and defense of property as a matter of law, (2) the indictment was invalid, (3) the jury charge was invalid, (4) his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance, (5) his appellate counsel rendered ineffective assistance, and (6) the affirmative finding of a deadly weapon was improper. This Court ordered the cause filed and set on grounds two, three, and four. We will grant relief.

The record reflects that applicant and Dirk, his teenage son, lived in separate trailers on applicant’s land. A partially constructed A-frame house was also located on the tract of land. Tommy Mason and Mike Piper, two of Dirk’s friends, decided to take gasoline from a large drum in the A-frame house. Dirk testified in a prior proceeding that he told Piper not to go into the house, but that he could take gasoline from a bus, also located on the property. Piper testified that he and Mason believed that they had permission to enter the house. Applicant had no knowledge of this, nor did he give them permission to enter the house.

Applicant was inside the A-frame house working on plans for its completion and eating lunch when Mason and Piper tried to enter the house through a locked door. Applicant heard the door rattle and someone say that the door was locked. He also heard someone run by the house saying, “I know how to get in.” Thinking that someone was breaking into the house, applicant got his rifle.

Mason entered the home through a loose panel on the exterior of the house. Applicant ordered Mason, whom he knew, to kneel down and place his hands on his head. According to applicant, Mason made a dive for the gun and applicant fired. He fired a total of three shots. One hit Mason in the chest and another bounced off the floor and hit him in the leg. Another shot hit Piper, who was standing at the entrance of the panel opening with a hammer.

Applicant testified that Mason was like a son to him, but on that day Mason was not acting normal. Mason was an 18 year old, high school dropout, 6' 1" tall, and 200 lbs. Applicant, on the other hand, was 69 years old, 165 lbs, hard of hearing, and in poor health.

Applicant’s fourth ground is that he was denied effective assistance of counsel at trial. “To establish ineffective assistance of counsel at the guilt-innocence stage of a non-capital trial[,] ... applicant must show that: (1) counsel’s performance was deficient, and (2) the deficient performance prejudiced the defense so [much that it deprived applicant] of a fair trial.” Black v. State, 816 S.W.2d 350, 356 (Tex.Cr.App. 1991). See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984); Hernandez v. State, 726 S.W.2d 53 (Tex.Cr.App.1986) (adopting Strickland standard). We now “determine whether, in light of all the circumstances, the trial [955]*955counsel’s acts or omissions were outside the range of professional competent assistance, and if so, whether there is a reasonable probability that the result of the trial would have been different absent the deficient conduct.” Washington v. State, 771 S.W.2d 537, 545 (Tex.Cr.App.), cert. denied, 492 U.S. 912, 109 S.Ct. 3229, 106 L.Ed.2d 578 (1989) (citations omitted).

Applicant contends that his trial counsel’s performance was deficient because he failed to object to the indictment and the jury charge, both of which applicant contends were based on an invalid felony murder theory. The second count of the indictment charged applicant with felony murder based on the underlying felony aggravated assault against Thomas Mason which resulted in Mason’s death.1 The second count is void because felony murder can not be predicated on the underlying offense of aggravated assault. Garrett v. State, 573 S.W.2d 543 (Tex.Cr.App.1978).

Although the first count of the indictment correctly alleges the offense of murder under V.T.C.A. Penal Code, sec. 19.-02(a)(2), the jury charge authorized conviction under either count of the indictment. Because the jury returned a general verdict, it is impossible to determine upon which count the conviction is based.

In sufficiency of the evidence cases, we have held that “[wjhere a general verdict is returned, and the evidence is sufficient to support a finding under any of the counts submitted, the verdict will be applied to the offense finding support in the facts.” Aguirre v. State, 732 S.W.2d 320, 326 (Tex.Cr.App.1987) (opinion on State’s motion for rehearing). However, when the jury is presented with two counts, one of which is invalid as a matter of law, and it is impossible to determine under which count the jury convicted, we are not willing to assume that the jury ignored the invalid count and convicted under the valid count. Therefore, the verdict cannot stand. See and compare Boyde v. California, 494 U.S. 370, -, 110 S.Ct. 1190, 1197, 108 L.Ed.2d 316, 329 (1990) (“[When] a jury is clearly instructed by the court that it may convict a defendant on an impermissible legal theory, as well as on a proper theory or theories[,] [although it is possible that the guilty verdict may have had a proper basis, ‘it is equally likely that the verdict ... rested on an unconstitutional ground,’ Bachellar v. Maryland, 397 U.S. 564, 571, 90 S.Ct. 1312, 1316, 25 L.Ed.2d 570 (1970) and we ... declin[e] to choose between two such likely possibilities.”) See also Leary v. United States, 395 U.S. 6, 89 S.Ct. 1532, 23 L.Ed.2d 57 (1969); Stromberg v. California, 283 U.S. 359, 51 S.Ct. 532, 75 L.Ed. 1117 (1931).

Applicant further contends that his trial counsel’s performance was deficient because he did not object to the prosecutor’s argument that the jury should consider the deceased’s state of mind in determining whether applicant had the right to defend his property. This argument was not only contrary to the court’s charge, which instructed the jury to consider self-defense and defense of property from applicant’s standpoint, but it was also a misstatement of the applicable law. The law of self-defense and defense of property requires the jury to view the reasonableness of the defendant’s actions solely from the defendant’s standpoint. Bennett v. State, 726 S.W.2d 32

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Bluebook (online)
821 S.W.2d 953, 1991 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 260, 1991 WL 253116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-drinkert-texcrimapp-1991.