Jones v. State

644 S.W.2d 546, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 5468
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 3, 1982
Docket05-81-00621-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 644 S.W.2d 546 (Jones 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
Jones v. State, 644 S.W.2d 546, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 5468 (Tex. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinions

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

AKIN, Justice.

The panel opinion is withdrawn and the following is the opinion of the court sitting en banc.

Defendant appeals from his conviction for forgery. Punishment, enhanced by two prior convictions, was assessed at life imprisonment. Defendant contends that the trial court erred in failing to allow him the opportunity to elect that the jury assess punishment and that the evidence is insufficient to support a conviction. We hold that we must presume that the trial judge ruled correctly in denying defendant the right to have the jury assess punishment because the record is silent as to whether he filed his election to have the jury assess punishment before he pleaded to the indictment before the jury. We also hold that Tex. Code Crim.Pro. art. 40.09(7) (Vernon Supp. 1982) authorizes the judge to hold a hearing to make the record speak the truth. Accordingly, we affirm.

The record reflects that the entire trial was held on May 19, 1981. Additionally, the transcript contains a motion, file marked May 19, 1981, in which the defendant requested that the jury assess punishment. The record does not, however, show whether this request was filed before or after pleading to the indictment in open court. During jury deliberations on guilt or innocence, the trial judge made the following statement:

All right. We are about to receive the jury verdict at this time. Now, of course, if the verdict is not guilty that ends the trial; however, if there is a guilty verdict in this case, the election to go to the jury was filed on May 19, 1981. In this trial, the plea to the indictment was May 18, 1981. For it to be a jury question, with regard to the issue of punishment — if that is to be the case, it will have to be done with the permission of the State of Texas.

The State refused to agree to having the jury assess punishment and the trial court set defendant’s punishment at life imprisonment. After appeal had been perfected to this court, a hearing was held by the trial judge at the request of the State to determine whether defendant’s motion had been timely filed. The prosecutor testified that defendant’s motion was filed after both sides had rested, and the judge observed that the election was filed after the testimony had been completed. The trial judge found at the conclusion of the hearing that defendant’s motion was filed after he had pleaded to the indictment before the jury and, thus, was untimely. Accordingly, a supplemental statement of facts was filed reflecting this proceeding.

Defendant argues that the trial judge erred in refusing to allow the jury to assess [548]*548punishment because his motion to have the jury assess punishment was timely filed. We do not agree. The trial judge later held a hearing to determine the truth with respect to the question of whether the motion was filed after the defendant had pleaded to the indictment. This hearing showed that the motion was filed too late. Our question then is whether the judge could validly conduct such a hearing after the case had been appealed. We hold that he could.

Tex.Code Crim.Pro.Ann. art. 40.09(7) (Vernon 1979) provides in part:

If the trial court deems that a supplemental record or any other modification of the record be necessary to make the record speak the truth, for any reason, with or without objections from the state or the defendant, and whether on the court’s own motion or the motion of either party or by order of the court of appeals or the Court of Criminal Appeals, the defendant shall be notified . . . [Emphasis added.]

By specifically providing that the record may be supplemented by order of the court of appeals or Court of Criminal Appeals, section 7 clearly contemplates that the record may be supplemented after an appeal has been filed. The Court of Criminal Appeals has consistently held that the trial court has the jurisdiction to conduct such hearings even after an appeal has been perfected. See Schroeder v. State, 543 S.W.2d 382, 384 (Tex.Cr.App.1976); Guzman v. State, 521 S.W.2d 267, 271-73 (Tex.Cr.App.1975). See also Resnick v. State, 574 S.W.2d 558 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Perkins v. State, 505 S.W.2d 563 (Tex.Cr.App.1974).

The precise question presented is whether the provisions of article 40.09(7) authorize the trial judge to “cause the record to speak the truth” only to correct an erroneous record, as the dissent would hold, or whether article 40.09(7) also authorizes the court to supply an omission where the record is silent. We hold that article 40.-09(7) permits the trial judge to hold a hearing to make the record speak the truth either where the record is incorrect as to what transpired at trial or where the record is silent as to the truth of what occurred at trial. As we read article 40.09(7), we find no language that precludes this holding or supports the narrow construction of the dissent. In view of the trial judge’s finding after this hearing that defendant’s motion though filed on May 19, was filed after the defendant pleaded to the indictment, the trial judge’s denial of defendant’s motion to have the jury assess punishment was correct, even though the judge had erroneously thought at the time of trial that the plea before the jury was on May 18,1981, rather than on May 19.

Furthermore, we do not read Tex. Code Crim.Pro.Ann. art. 44.11 (Vernon Supp.1982) as a limitation on the trial judge’s jurisdiction to make the record speak the truth under article 40.09(7). Instead, article 44.11 merely precludes the trial judge from changing his judgment after the appellate record has been filed in the court of appeals and does not pertain to “making the record speak the truth” as authorized under article 40.09(7). Tex.Code Crim.Pro.Ann. art. 44.11 (Vernon Supp. 1982) provides:

Upon the appellate record being filed in the court of appeals or the Court of Criminal Appeals, all further proceedings in the trial court, except as to bond as provided in Article 44.04, shall be suspended and arrested until the mandate of the appellate court is received by the trial court. In cases where the record or any portion thereof is lost or destroyed it may be substituted in the trial court and when so substituted the record may be prepared and transmitted to the court of appeals or the Court of Criminal Appeals as in other cases.

Nothing in this statute precludes a hearing under article 40.09(7). To hold as the dissent would have us do, would render meaningless that part of article 40.09(7) which provides that either the court of appeals or the Court of Criminal Appeals may order a hearing to make the record speak the truth. Obviously, the appellate record has been filed before either appellate court could or[549]*549der a hearing under article 40.09(7). Thus, the dissent’s construction of these statutes fails to give effect to the clear language of article 40.09(7).

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Jones v. State
644 S.W.2d 546 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
644 S.W.2d 546, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 5468, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jones-v-state-texapp-1982.