Ex Parte March

423 S.W.2d 916, 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 896
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 14, 1968
Docket40999
StatusPublished
Cited by48 cases

This text of 423 S.W.2d 916 (Ex Parte March) 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 March, 423 S.W.2d 916, 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 896 (Tex. 1968).

Opinion

OPINION

ONION, Judge.

This is an original application for Writ of Habeas Corpus brought by applicant seeking his release from the Texas Department of Corrections. He alleges the order cumulating the sentences by virtue of which he is confined is insufficient. Applicant first presented his habeas corpus application to the convicting court as required by *917 Article 11.07, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P. See Ex parte Young, 418 S.W.2d 824. The Trial Judge, the Hon. Archie S. Brown, has made the writ returnable to this Court.

From the record before us it appears that the applicant was convicted of a felony on January 27, 1954, in Cause No. 53369 in the Criminal District Court of Bexar County, Texas (now the 144th District Court) and assessed a punishment of three years confinement in the penitentiary. Sentence was never imposed and the trial court suspended the imposition of the sentence and the applicant was placed on probation subject to certain conditions and terms.

On September 29, 1955, during the probationary term, applicant was convicted of another felony in Cause No. 54449 in the Criminal District Court of Bexar County, and sentenced to serve not less than two nor more than three years in the penitentiary. On this same date following a hearing pursuant to the state’s motion to revoke probation previously granted in Cause No. 53369, the court ordered the probation revoked, and for the first time imposed sentence in Cause No. 53369. In said sentence the court provided for cumulation of the sentence with the sentence imposed in Cause No. 54449.

It is this order of cumulation that the applicant attacks.

The record further reflects that applicant was committed to the penitentiary by virtue of said sentences, later was released on parole, and subsequently became a fugitive parole violator but was arrested and returned to the Texas Department of Corrections on January 1, 1967. It appears from the record that the applicant now has credit in excess of four years in the Texas Department of Corrections and has completed serving the sentence in said Cause No. 54449. It is his contention that he is entitled to release as the cumulation attempted is void and the two three-year sentences must be interpreted as having run concurrently.

Applicant first claims that the trial court was without authority to cumu-late the sentences on September 29, 1955. Here, we must be careful to distinguish between the methods available to the trial court in granting probation. Under the provisions of former Article 781b, Sections 1 and 3, V.A.C.C.P., enacted in 1947, and in effect at the time of applicant’s probation and on September 29, 1955, the trial court in granting adult probation was authorized to suspend either the imposition or the execution of the sentence. These same provisions were contained in former Article 781d, Sections 1 and 3, V.A.C.C.P., enacted in 1957 repealing Article 781b, supra. See also Article IV, Section 11 A, Texas Constitution, Vernon’s Ann.St.

Under such statutes when the court suspended the execution of the sentence, the sentence was actually pronounced and imposed, but the execution or carrying out of the sentence was suspended and the defendant released subject to conditions and terms of probation. Upon revocation of probation under this method, the trial court would order the sentence previously imposed to be executed or carried out as if probation had never been granted without the necessity of sentencing or re-sentencing the defendant at that time.

If the other method of granting probation was employed, the court would suspend the imposition of the sentence, and no sentence was ever pronounced or imposed except upon revocation of probation. In other words, when probation was revoked sentence would be imposed for the first time.

In Ex parte Minor, 167 Tex.Cr.R. 170, 319 S.W.2d 114, the trial judge utilized the suspension of the execution of the sentence method of granting probation to Minor in 1954. Upon revocation of probation in 1955 the court attempted to re-sentence the defendant and at that time also attempted to cumulate such sentence with other outstanding sentences imposed while the defendant was on probation.

*918 In holding the cumulation void this Court said:

“When the term of court adjourned at which the 1954 sentence was imposed, the trial court lost all power to alter, change or amend the same, and the only order he could enter was to revoke it. He could not add further conditions to such sentence which were not, and under the facts could not have been, a part of such sentence at the time it was imposed.”

See also Ex parte Tucker, 168 Tex.Cr.R. 308, 325 S.W.2d 703; Ex parte Scott, 168 Tex.Cr.R. 353, 328 S.W.2d 190; Ex parte Rutherford, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 302, 350 S.W.2d 31; Ex parte Downey, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 296, 350 S.W.2d 20; Ex parte Hernandez, Tex.Cr.App., 364 S.W.2d 688; Ex parte Green, Tex.Cr.App., 375 S.W.2d 312; Ex parte O’Connor, Tex.Cr.App., 394 S.W.2d 815; Anderson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 421 S.W.2d 667.

In Ex parte Minor, supra, the Court was careful to point out that we were not dealing with a case where the imposition of the sentence was suspended when probation was granted. When such method is utilized, as in the case at bar, and sentence is imposed for the first time following revocation, the court is free to cumulate the sentence with prior outstanding sentences. See Article 42.08, V.A. C.C.P. Therefore, applicant’s first contention is without merit.

It is interesting to observe that under the provisions of Article 42.12, Sections 1 and 3, 1965 Code of Criminal Procedure, the court, in placing a defendant on adult felony probation, is authorized only to suspend the imposition of the sentence. The method of suspending the execution is no longer available to the court. Anderson v. State, supra.

Applicant next contends that even if the trial court had the authority to cu-mulate, the recitals as to the prior conviction in the order of cumulation were insufficient and the order was therefore ineffective. Citing Ex parte Hamilton, 163 Tex.Cr.R. 283, 290 S.W.2d 673.

The cumulation order contained in the sentence in Cause No. 53369 reads as follows:

“It is further ordered by the court that said punishment herein shall begin and operate after the expiration of the present term of imprisonment which he is now serving in Cause No. 54449.”

In Ex parte Hamilton, supra, this Court did point out that any order of cumulation should give

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Bluebook (online)
423 S.W.2d 916, 1968 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 896, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-march-texcrimapp-1968.