Hughes v. State

562 S.W.2d 857, 1978 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1076
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided March 15, 1978·No. 51827·Published·Cited by 105 cases

Opinions

[859]*859OPINION

DOUGLAS, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for the offense of capital murder wherein the punishment was assessed at death. See V.T.C.A., Penal Code, Section 19.03, and Article 37.071, V.A.C.C.P.

During the early morning hours of September 23, 1974, appellant drove into a service station in Mesquite, a suburb of Dallas, in a truck which he had previously stolen. The station was closed for the night and, when appellant saw a Buick automobile parked inside, he broke the glass out of a window and climbed through it into the station. The keys were in the ignition of the automobile. Appellant drove the vehicle out and started around to the front of the station when a marked police car drove in and blocked his path.

A uniformed officer got out of the police car and ordered appellant to exit the Buick. As appellant got out he had in his hand a .32 caliber pistol which he pointed at the officer. When the officer saw this he drew his revolver and fired a shot at appellant. Appellant started shooting and the officer fell to his knees. Appellant then obtained a 12 gauge shotgun from the stolen truck and shot the officer in the right side and killed him.

Appellant left in the Buick. After disposing of the pistol, shotgun, shotgun shells and his boots, he drove to Parkland Hospital where he entered the emergency room and advised the attendant that he had been shot. Shell fragments were removed from his thigh.

Appellant was thereafter arrested at the hospital and taken to the Mesquite police station where he gave a written confession after having been warned of his rights by a magistrate. In his confession he stated that he had disposed of the items mentioned above by throwing them in Blue Lake. Upon being taken to the lake, he admitted the falsity of that portion of his statement and directed the officers to a vacant house where the officers recovered the items sought.

Appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence. He first contends that the appeal should be abated because the trial court erroneously pronounced sentence. The identical contention was rejected in Hovila v. State, 532 S.W.2d 293, 297 (Tex.Cr.App.1976), wherein it was observed that “the provisions of Article 37.-071, supra, referring to ‘sentence to death,’ etc., refers [sic] to the assessment of punishment and not to a formal sentence, and the provisions of Article 42.04, supra [V.A.C.C. P.], still control.” As in Hovila, the trial court was apparently misled by the awkward wording of Article 37.071, supra, but it apparently recognized that another sentence setting the execution date would be required. Accordingly, there is no reason to abate the appeal because the court pronounced sentence. It will be regarded as surplusage.

Appellant next contends that Article 1257, V.A.P.C., violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. Since this article was repealed effective January 1,1974, and was not even in existence at the time of the commission of the instant offense, it is not relevant to this case.

Appellant contends that this State’s new statutory scheme for capital murder, including the possible infliction of the death penalty, violates his constitutional rights to due process and to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. He further contends that imposition of the death penalty under any circumstances offends the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. The same contentions were rejected by this Court in Jurek v. State, 522 S.W.2d 934 (Tex.Cr.App.1975), and by the United States Supreme Court in Jurek v. Texas, 428 U.S. 262, 96 S.Ct. 2950, 49 L.Ed.2d 929 (1976). See also Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 96 S.Ct. 2909, 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976); Proffitt v. Florida, 428 U.S. 242, 96 S.Ct. 2960, 49 L.Ed.2d 913 (1976).

Appellant next contends that twenty-four veniremen were excused in violation of [860]*860Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776 (1968).1

In Hovila v. State, supra, we held that the holding of Witherspoon was still viable in light of the new statutory scheme providing for the imposition of the death penalty adopted after the decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972). In Moore v. State, 542 S.W.2d 664 (Tex.Cr.App.1976), we held that it was unnecessary to consider the Wither-spoon question where the prospective juror was disqualified under V.T.C.A., Penal Code, Section 12.31(b). See also Burns v. State, 556 S.W.2d 270 (Tex.Cr.App.1977).

Section 12.31(b) provides:

“Prospective jurors shall be informed that a sentence of life imprisonment or death is mandatory on conviction of a capital felony. A prospective juror shall be disqualified from serving as a juror unless he states under oath that the mandatory penalty of death or imprisonment for life will not affect his deliberations on any issue of fact.”

Prospective jurors Margaret Houston and Ida Barton expressed opposition to the death penalty. When asked by the court whether such opposition would affect her deliberations on the three fact issues submitted to the jury at the punishment stage, Houston stated that her beliefs could affect her deliberations on the issues because she “would not want to send a man to death. . . .” Barton stated that her feelings would give her “a lot of problems” in answering the special issues objectively and that those feelings would influence her answers to the questions submitted to her.

It is clear that Houston and Barton were properly excused under Section 12.31(b) and that we need not determine whether their statements also disqualified them under the Witherspoon doctrine.

Neither the court nor the prosecutor questioned prospective juror Norma McClay with regard to whether she was unequivocally opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. The court observed that she had expressed opposition to the death penalty in a questionnaire and inquired whether such opposition would affect her deliberations upon the fact issues. She responded that she would answer the three questions without regard to the consequences of such action, but then vacillated and stated that she did not know whether her deliberations would be affected by her beliefs. When the court stated that she had to determine whether her deliberations would or would not be affected, she equivocated and finally stated that she did not know.

Prospective juror Virginia Ball stated that she believed in the death penalty only in certain cases. She expressed doubt that she could answer special issue number two affirmatively because she did not think she could predict a defendant’s future conduct. She then stated that she would have to consider the issue carefully before answering and that she “might” give an affirmative answer under certain circumstances.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Hughes v. State, 562 S.W.2d 857, 1978 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1076 (Tex. 1978).

562 S.W.2d 857 (Hughes v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Anderson v. State
905 S.W.2d 366 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995)
Muniz v. State
851 S.W.2d 238 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Urbano v. State
808 S.W.2d 519 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Parker v. State
792 S.W.2d 795 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Harkey v. State
785 S.W.2d 876 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Capello v. State
775 S.W.2d 476 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1989)
Guerra v. State
771 S.W.2d 453 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1988)
Nichols v. State
754 S.W.2d 185 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1988)
Raetzsch v. State
745 S.W.2d 520 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1988)
Oliver v. State
739 S.W.2d 656 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Hewitt v. State
734 S.W.2d 745 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Conner v. State
725 S.W.2d 454 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Johnson v. State
713 S.W.2d 741 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Johnson v. State
698 S.W.2d 154 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Moseley v. State
696 S.W.2d 934 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Brown v. State
674 S.W.2d 443 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Sullivan v. State
678 S.W.2d 162 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Green v. State
682 S.W.2d 271 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Postell v. State
663 S.W.2d 552 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)