Jefferson v. State

751 S.W.2d 502, 1988 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 89, 1988 WL 44832

Opinions

OPINION ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

ONION, Presiding Judge.

A jury convicted appellant of committing the offense of felony theft, and also assessed punishment at four years’ imprisonment and a fine of $5,000.00. The El Paso Court of Appeals, in an unpublished opinion, sustained appellant’s single point of error which alleged that the trial court should have granted the appellant’s motion to dismiss the indictment under the Speedy Trial Act, Article 32A.02, V.A.C.C.P. Jefferson v. State (Tex.App.-El Paso, No. 08-84-00096-CR, delivered January 30, 1985).

We granted the State’s petition for discretionary review, which alleges that the Speedy Trial Act is unconstitutional because (1) the Act is vague; (2) the Act violates the separation of powers doctrine; and (3) the caption to the Act is defective.

A majority of this Court recently declared Article 32A.02, supra, unconstitutional and void in its entirety. Meshell v. State, 739 S.W.2d 246 (Tex.Cr.App.1987). The holding in Meshell announced that by enacting the Speedy Trial Act the Legislature had violated the separation of powers doctrine under Article II, § 1 of the Texas Constitution. Meshell’s motion for leave to file a motion for rehearing was denied November 4, 1987. An unconstitutional statute is void from its inception and cannot provide a basis for any right or relief. See 12 Tex.Jur.3d, Constitutional Law, § 41, at 548 (and cases in n. 33 thereof). Furthermore, the caption issue has been rendered moot, since Article III, § 35, was recently amended to make the Legislature solely responsible for complying with caption requirements. See Baggett v. State, 722 S.W.2d 700, 702 (Tex.Cr.App.1987); Meshell, supra, at 251.

The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the cause remanded to that court for consideration of appellant’s remaining points of error.

McCORMICK and WHITE, JJ., concur in the result.