Harmon v. State

889 S.W.2d 521, 1994 WL 559618
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 15, 1995
DocketC14-92-00318-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 889 S.W.2d 521 (Harmon v. State) 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
Harmon v. State, 889 S.W.2d 521, 1994 WL 559618 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBERTSON, Justice.

A jury found appellant guilty of five counts of theft, and the trial court assessed punishment at ten years confinement and a fine of $100,450 payable to the complainant. In six points of error appellant complains of the insufficiency of the evidence, an erroneous definition in the indictment, use of extraneous offenses without prior notice, and the trial court’s failure to hold a hearing on appellant’s motion for new trial. Because of the trial court’s failure to assess punishment separately on each count for which the jury found appellant guilty, we affirm the judgment of the trial court only as to count one and dismiss the appeal as to all others for lack of jurisdiction.

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether a rational trier of fact could find every element of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). In this light, we recite the following facts. Tim Collins, the complainant in the case, testified that he met appellant in July of 1985 through Alan Hoover, a mutual friend of both appellant and Collins. At the initial meeting between these three men at Hoover’s home in Houston, appellant explained in detail to Collins an investment opportunity concerning the purchase of large blocks of tickets to concerts at the Summit, which tickets could be bought directly from Ticketron in Florida upon their printing and resold at a higher price to the general public. Appellant told Collins that he had an arrangement with the vice-president of Ticketron in Fort Lauderdale, Florida by which a “ticket runner” would arrive at Fort Lauderdale with a large amount of cash for which the vice-president of Ticketron would exchange the just printed concert tickets. Appellant also described to Collins how he could purchase “spots,” or groups of tickets which would become available shortly before a performance.

At this first meeting, Collins gave appellant a check for $75,000 to cover his participation in the investment scheme for three months. Collins opened an account in Houston in both his and Hoover’s name to which he could wire money from Pennsylvania and on which Hoover could obtain the money to give to appellant to effect the purchase of the tickets. A former employee of Ticketron testified, however, that the company had no *523 operations or personnel located in Florida in 1985 and that because Ticketron did not print a single ticket until it was sold at a sales location, a scheme such as the one proposed by appellant to Collins was not possible. An employee at the Summit, Mike McGee, had never heard of the term “spots,” but stated that the Summit would sometimes hold seats pending the installation of a show and then sell any extra seats that might become available as a result of the configuration of the stage. McGee confirmed that Ticketron had not had any operations in Florida since 1973.

Testimony of other witnesses revealed that appellant had made similar representations to them concerning a connection with Ticket-ron in Florida enabling them to acquire concert tickets before .release to the general public to be resold at a higher price. One witness had lost $591,000 dollars in the venture, and another witness testified that the total loss of money of his group of friends participating in the scheme was $1.1 million dollars. Collins made six wire transfers of money to Houston to participate in appellant’s investment opportunity, which transfers comprise six of the seven paragraphs in the indictment.

However, before addressing the substance of appellant’s argument, we must discuss a sentencing error at trial. Although there is not a specific point of error on this issue, appellant directed our attention to this matter through his mentioning in a footnote that should we find the evidence insufficient on any count, we must remand for a new punishment hearing. In determining the merit of this argument, it became evident that the trial court erred in failing to sentence appellant properly in accordance with the Texas Penal Code provision that requires a separate sentence be assessed for each offense that arises out of the same criminal episode and that is prosecuted in a single criminal action. TexJPenal Code Ann. § 3.03 (Vernon 1974). 1 At the time of the commission of the alleged offenses, the Penal Code defined a criminal episode as the repeated commission of an offense under Title 7, which title includes offenses against property, of which theft is one such offense. TexPenal Code Ann. § 31.03 (Vernon 1974). 2

The court of criminal appeals has addressed the identical situation we face in the instant case and used the doctrine of carving to presume that the one sentence assessed for numerous convictions refers to the first count of the indictment. E.g., Robinson v. State, 553 S.W.2d 371, 372 (Tex.Crim.App.1977); Parks v. State, 553 S.W.2d 114, 116 (Tex.Crim.App.1977). Because this reasoning results in finding a proper sentence was assessed only on the first count of the indictment, we must find no proper sentence exists for the other convictions. See Robinson, 553 S.W.2d at 372. Therefore, any appeal relative to these other counts must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Id.; see also White v. State, 543 S.W.2d 130, 132 (Tex.Crim.App.1976) (dismissing appeal for lack of jurisdiction as to counts for which no sentence assessed). We thus have no jurisdiction to address the sufficiency of the evidence points on counts two through six which comprise points of error one and three and dismiss the appeal as to these counts. Because the doctrine of carving requires that we find the ten-year sentence refers to the first count, we will address the sufficiency of the evidence point of error as to this count which appellant frames as his second point of error.

Appellant’s second point of error refers to the sum of $75,000 that Collins gave to appellant at the initial meeting between the three men. Appellant asserts the evidence shows that Hoover’s representations, not appellant’s, were the ones that caused Collins to contribute money. We find, however, that the record amply supports the jury’s finding appellant’s representations were the ones Collins relied on in making the decision to turn over his money. For example, Collins testified that the first detailed conversation regarding the investment *524 scheme occurred when the three met at the airport upon Collins’s arrival from Pennsylvania. In addition, Collins’s testimony shows that it was appellant who described to him the procedure by which the tickets would be acquired from appellant’s connection with Ticketron in Florida. Appellant was also the person who assured Collins that the scheme was legal when Collins specifically asked about the legality of the operation.

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Bluebook (online)
889 S.W.2d 521, 1994 WL 559618, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harmon-v-state-texapp-1995.