Ex parte Naranjo Baldivia

727 S.W.2d 337, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6733
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1987
DocketNo. 07-86-0241-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 727 S.W.2d 337 (Ex parte Naranjo Baldivia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of 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 Naranjo Baldivia, 727 S.W.2d 337, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6733 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

BOYD, Justice.

Appellant brings this appeal from the denial by the trial court of relief sought by him under two applications for writ of ha-beas corpus and a motion to dismiss. In three points, appellant says the trial court erred (1) in denying his writ of habeas corpus based upon the prohibition against double jeopardy provided by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, article one, section fourteen of the Texas Constitution, and article 1.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure; (2) in denying appellant’s motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial in contravention of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and articles 1.05 and 32A.02 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure; and (3) in refusing the reduction in bail sought by appellant in his second application for writ of habeas corpus. Disagreeing with his contentions, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

The facts in the case are that shortly before June 6, 1985, Pattie and Robert Glenn Ballard had moved back to Castro County from Colorado. They had leased from the Spencer Estate some farm land located about thirteen or fourteen miles southwest of Dimmitt. While they were waiting for the brick residence located on the property to be vacated, the Ballards had moved a camper trailer on the property and located it immediately behind the brick house. They were residing in that trailer while the children of Mrs. Spencer, who had moved to a convalescent home, removed Mrs. Spencer’s possessions from the house.

About 3:30 in the early morning of June 6, Mrs. Ballard was awakened by the sound of her dog barking. She went back to sleep but was later reawakened and saw the reflection of lights on a motor vehicle turning in the residence driveway. A “few minutes later” she again heard her dog barking, got up and looked out, and saw two men coming around the corner of the residence. She heard the men talking to each other in the Spanish language. She saw the men stop and unsuccessfully try to quiet her dog. They went around the corner of the house. She awakened her husband and told him about the two men but he did not get up then because he thought the men would leave when they found no one at the residence.

Mrs. Ballard next noticed some very dim lights in the house and again awakened her husband. He got up, took a gun, and went to investigate. She heard her husband ask the men if they had a key to get into the house and a conversation then ensued, all of which she could not hear. She then heard the vehicle start and heard a shot from her husband’s gun. She could hear her husband say “I told you to leave, and I mean it,” and she heard her dog “charge” someone. She then heard two more shots followed by the sound of the vehicle leaving the scene. She found her husband lying unconscious on the north side of the house. He died without regaining consciousness. It was later discovered that he died as the result of a puncture wound in the chest caused by an unknown sharp instrument. Subsequent investigation revealed the residence had been broken into, several items moved, and a fingerprint of [339]*339appellant found on a kerosene lamp inside the house.

On June 21, 1985, the Castro County grand jury returned an indictment charging appellant, in multiple counts, with capital murder, murder, and burglary of a habitation. A change of venue to Swisher County was granted and, prior to commencement of the trial, the capital murder count was dismissed with the State electing to proceed on the murder count. As a result of that trial, on April 14,1986, appellant was found not guilty of murder. On that same day, April 14, 1986, appellant was again charged with burglary of a habitation and was formally reindicted on that charge on May 21, 1986.

Appellant initially contends that his prosecution is barred by the constitutionally based doctrine of collateral estoppel. That doctrine is a corollary of the Fifth Amendment prohibition against double jeopardy and made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. As explicated in the seminal case of Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970), collateral estoppel “means simply that when an issue of ultimate fact has once been determined by a valid and final judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit.” Id. at 443, 90 S.Ct. at 1194. The Ashe Court continued its exposition by cautioning that the rule “is not to be applied with the hypertechnical and archaic approach of a 19th century pleading book, but with realism and rationality” and where, as here, an acquittal was the result of a general verdict, a court must “examine the record of a prior proceeding, taking into account the pleadings, evidence, charge, and other relevant matter, and conclude whether a rational jury could have grounded its verdict upon an issue other than that which the defendant seeks to foreclose from consideration.” Id. at 444, 90 S.Ct. at 1194. See also Dedrick v. State, 623 S.W.2d 332, 336 (Tex.Crim.App.1981); Ex parte Green, 548 S.W.2d 914, 916-17 (Tex.Crim.App.1977). In light of that instruction, we have examined the record of the prior trial and conclude that collateral estoppel would not prevent the prosecution of the present case.

The essential elements of the murder charge under which the State proceeded, and must have established to obtain a conviction, were that appellant intentionally and knowingly caused the death of Robert Ballard by striking and stabbing him with a blunt and sharp instrument or that, acting with the intent to promote or assist the commission , of the murder, appellant solicited, aided, or encouraged the other person to commit the murder. Those were, of course, the ultimate facts for decision in that case.

The basis of appellant’s contention is that “the only ultimate fact that the State had to prove was Appellant’s identity and presence at the scene of the crime, and it failed to convince the jury that Appellant was there at that time.” We disagree. It is axiomatic, and the jury was properly so charged, that appellant’s mere presence alone was not sufficient to make him a party to murder. See LeDuc v. State, 593 S.W.2d 678, 684 (Tex.Crim.App.1979). The jury could well have concluded that even though appellant was present, the stabbing was the act of the other person and appellant was not guilty of any such conduct as to make him a party to the crime of murder.

The elements of the instant offense are that (1) the appellant; (2) without the effective consent of the owner; (3) entered a habitation not then open to the public; (4) with intent to commit theft. Reyes v. State, 628 S.W.2d 238, 239 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1982, no pet.). These elements are quite different from those involved in the murder charge. In summary, our review of the record satisfies us that the trial jury could rationally have grounded its verdict upon issues other than those necessary to establish the offense of burglary of a habitation. That being the case, the doctrine of collateral estoppel would not bar prosecution of the burglary charge.

Appellant also argues “that the State, through its election to proceed in the murder count, abandoned burglary of a habitation within the capital murder count and [340]

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Bluebook (online)
727 S.W.2d 337, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ex-parte-naranjo-baldivia-texapp-1987.