Hill v. State

666 S.W.2d 663, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5132
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 1, 1984
Docket01-83-0411-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 666 S.W.2d 663 (Hill 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
Hill v. State, 666 S.W.2d 663, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5132 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

*665 OPINION

DUGGAN, Justice.

A jury found appellant guilty of aggravated robbery and thereafter found the enhancement paragraphs of the indictment to be true. Following the court’s assessment of the mandatory life sentence, appellant urges four grounds of error on appeal. The sufficiency of the evidence is not challenged.

By his first ground of error, appellant alleges the court committed fundamental error by charging the jury with a method of aggravated robbery not included in the indictment. The applicable portion of the indictment reads as follows:

[Appellant] ... did ... while in the course of committing theft of property owned by [complainant] ... and with intent to obtain and maintain control of the property, intentionally and knowingly threaten and place the Complainant in fear of imminent bodily injury and death, by using and exhibiting a deadly weapon, namely, a firearm.

The definition of robbery stated in the portion of the charge instructing the jury on the abstract law reads:

A person commits the offense of robbery if, while in the course of committing theft and with intent to obtain or maintain control of property, he intentionally or knowingly (1) causes bodily injury to another or (2) threatens or places another in fear of imminent bodily injury or death. Robbery becomes aggravated if either serious bodily injury is inflicted or a deadly weapon is used or exhibited.

The portion of the charge applying the law to the facts states, in relevant part:

Now, therefore, if you believe ... the defendant, Richard Allen Hill, ... did ..., while in the course of committing theft of property owned by [complainant] ..., and with intent to obtain and maintain control of the property, intentionally and knowingly threaten and place the Complainant in fear of imminent bodily injury and death, by using and exhibiting a deadly weapon, namely, a firearm, you will find the defendant guilty as charged.

While the charge’s general statement of the law of the offense sets forth both methods of committing aggravated robbery, Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 29.03 (Vernon 1974), the portion of the charge applying the law to the facts tracks the language of the indictment exactly. Appellant made no objection to the definitional portion of the charge at trial. The Court of Criminal Appeals has consistently held such charges to be acceptable. There is no error. Grady v. State, 614 S.W.2d 830, 831 (Tex.Cr. App.1981); Toler v. State, 546 S.W.2d 290, 293-94 (Tex.Cr.App.1977); Martinez v. State, 157 Tex.Cr.R. 603, 252 S.W.2d 186, 187-88 (1952). Ground of error one is overruled.

Appellant next urges error in the admission of prejudicial evidence of extraneous offenses during the State’s direct examination of a Houston police officer.

The witness was asked:

Q: Did you have occasion to come in contact with an individual you later came to know as Richard Allen Hill?
A: Yes, I did.
Q: Could you please explain to us how that came about?
A: I responded to a call of a possible robbery in progress at a convenience store on East Crosstimbers.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: I object. May the jury be retired, if the Court please?

Counsel argued, out of the jury’s presence, that reference to an extraneous offense, another robbery on another date implicating the appellant, required a mistrial. The court announced no ruling but obtained the prosecutor’s assurance that the jury would be told no robbery occurred. When the jury returned, testimony continued:

[THE COURT]: You may proceed.
Q: Officer Nelson, you said something about you had a report of a robbery in progress. Did there turn out to be a robbery in progress?
A: No, sir.

*666 The officer said that he received information on a suspicious vehicle parked behind the store in an apartment parking lot; that he saw three black females and a white man, the appellant, in the car; and that he followed the car and subsequently arrested appellant because a warrant for his arrest had been issued.

Any misimpression that appellant was captured while robbing another establishment was corrected. No extraneous offense was introduced by the officer’s testimony.

Appellant also argues that error occurred when the State was allowed to introduce the fact that the officer had an arrest warrant for appellant based on another offense. The statement of facts reveals that defense counsel developed, outside the jury’s presence, that the officer knew of the existence of a felony warrant for appellant based on a burglary of a habitation. Prior to the jury’s return, the trial court told the prosecutor, “You may go into the fact there is a warrant for his arrest but not what it is for.”

Again, no extraneous offense was revealed to the jury. Appellee’s second ground of error two is overruled.

By his third ground of error, appellant asserts fundamental error in the trial court’s failure, despite timely pro se motions, to conduct a hearing “relative to the effective assistance of counsel rendered the appellant.” Appellant cites no authority holding such inaction to be fundamental error. Instead, he argues that, since appointment of counsel for an indigent defendant and effective assistance of counsel are constitutional rights of an accused, a court’s refusal to allow a criminal defendant to present evidence in support of timely filed pre-trial motions concerning counsel’s incompetence, ineffectiveness, or wrongdoing is incompatible with the mandates of Article I, Section 10, of the Texas Constitution and the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Appellant argues:

Obviously, the instant “Catch 22” situation where a criminal defendant must show ineffective assistance of counsel from the Court’s record but is summarily denied the opportunity to make such a record is both an embarrassment to our concept of justice and an outrage that cannot be tolerated by a free society.

The transcript shows that on February 4, 1983, the trial court, upon its own motion, appointed counsel for the indigent defendant, and that attorney filed three pre-trial motions in appellant’s behalf. The court’s docket sheet also indicates several courtroom appearances by the attorney with his client. The statement of facts demonstrates that counsel presented a competent, conscientious defense at trial.

Nevertheless, between March 4 and May 24, appellant filed eleven pro se

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Bluebook (online)
666 S.W.2d 663, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-state-texapp-1984.