Garcia v. State

762 S.W.2d 263, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3338, 1988 WL 143077
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 23, 1988·No. No. 09-88-206-CR·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BROOKSHIRE, Justice.

Appellant, Garcia, was indicted by the October 1986 grand jury of Jefferson County. The Appellant was charged with the burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit the felony offense of sexual assault. This true bill of indictment alleged that this offense occurred on September 21, 1986. Also, in a separate indictment the October 1986 grand jury charged this Appellant with aggravated sexual assault. This second indictment alleged that the aggravated sexual assault took place on September 21, 1986.

[264]*264The Appellant was tried in the 252nd Criminal District Court on the charge of burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit the felony offense of sexual assault. The trial commenced on January 11, 1988. On January 13, 1988, the Appellant was convicted by the jury although he had pleaded not guilty. Also, in the January 1988 proceeding the jury assessed the Appellant’s punishment at 47 years in the State Department of Corrections following the jury’s finding that the Appellant was guilty of the offense of burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit sexual assault.

Subsequent to the sentencing of the Appellant, the district court set for a jury trial the indictment charging aggravated sexual assault. The trial setting was for March 28, 1988. Prior to the trial date on the charge of aggravated sexual assault, the Appellant filed an application for writ of habeas corpus in the district court. The application alleged that the felony offense of burglary of a habitation with the intent to commit sexual assault and the felony offense of aggravated sexual assault constituted the same offense under the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Hence, the Appellant argued below that the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment barred any prosecution for the felony offense of aggravated sexual assault. The district court in April of 1988 heard and denied the Appellant’s application for writ of habeas corpus. Later the district court entered a written order signed July 21, 1988, denying Appellant habeas corpus relief.

The indictment upon which the Appellant was actually tried alleged that Garcia, with the intent to commit the felony offense of sexual assault, entered a habitation located in Jefferson County, Texas, owned by the complainant without the effective consent of the complainant. The indictment therefore set out three basic elements: that on September 21,1986, the Appellant did then enter a habitation; that he had the present intent to commit the felony offense of sexual assault; and, the habitation being owned by the complainant was entered without the effective consent of the complainant. From a reading of the indictment, the necessary conclusion is that this burglary of a habitation indictment was for an offense whose elements are set out and defined in TEX.PENAL CODE ANN sec. 30.02(a)(1) (Vernon 1974).

Burglary under this section defines an offense as being committed by a person who enters a habitation without the effective consent of the owner with the intent to commit a felony or a theft. The actual completed commission of a felony or a theft is not an element. The habitation or building is not, of course, then open to the public. The indictment did not allege the actual commission of a felony or a theft, nor did it allege a meaningful attempt or beginning to commit a felony or a theft or a committed, completed felony or sexual assault. An actual attempted felony or sexual assault was not alleged by the indictment and neither one was submitted as a necessary fact or element to the jury in the court’s charge. In the burglary of a habitation charge the court charged only on the elements of Garcia: (1) entering a habitation located in Jefferson County, (2) with the intent to commit a felony offense, (3) without the effective consent of the owner of the habitation, styled the complainant. It is obvious that the burglary of a habitation offense was completed when the house was broken into or entered without consent and at that time the accused had the intent to commit a felony.

In the second indictment on aggravated sexual assault, the grand jury set forth that the Appellant intentionally and knowingly caused the penetration of the sexual organ of the complainant, who was a female and not the spouse of the Appellant, and that this penetration was intentionally and knowingly caused by the accused’s male sexual organ without the consent of the complainant. Further, the accused compelled the complainant to submit to such a sexual assault by the use of physical force and violence and by threatening the complainant with the use of force and violence and that the accused used and exhibited a deadly weapon, to-wit: a letter open[265]*265er, so that in the manner of its use and its intended use was capable of causing serious bodily injury and death. Moreover, the indictment alleged the accused compelled the complainant without her consent to submit to such sexual assault by the use of physical force and violence and by threatening the complainant with the use of force and violence against the complainant by acts and words, and the accused did then and there place the complainant in fear of imminent death and serious bodily injury.

None of these elements in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the aggravated sexual assault indictment were submitted to the jury in the burglary case, and these issues, of course, were not resolved by the verdict of the jury in the burglary of the habitation trial on the merits.

The Appellant’s sole point of error is:

“The Court erred in denying Appellant’s Application for Writ of Habeas Corpus.
“A. Burglary of a Habitation with Intent to Commit Sexual Assault and Aggravated Sexual Assault are the ‘same offense’ for purpose of double jeopardy protection.”

The Court of Criminal Appeals in Ex Parte McWilliams, 634 S.W.2d 815, 822 (Tex.Crim.App.1980), wrote and held as follows:

“We now abandon the carving doctrine for the compelling reason that it encourages crime. When the carving doctrine may be applied to a situation in which a defendant robs, kidnaps, rapes, and murders his victim, the defendant suffers no more punishment than he would had he committed only one of the crimes. Justice and reason demand prosecution for each of the separate offenses so that a robber will be deterred from kidnapping, raping, and murdering the victim.”

We decide that the offense of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit a felony or a felony of sexual assault and the offense or crime of a completed aggravated sexual assault are entirely different offenses. The burglar who enters a homestead or habitation with the intention to commit a felony should not thereafter and after the entry with intent to commit a felony be given absolutely free rein and free license to go ahead and commit other offenses such as rape, kidnapping, murder or arson.

The aggravated sexual assault offense commenced after the burglary of the habitation was completed.

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Garcia v. State, 762 S.W.2d 263, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3338, 1988 WL 143077 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

762 S.W.2d 263 (Garcia v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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