Lee v. State

775 S.W.2d 59, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 1933, 1989 WL 84046
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 27, 1989·No. No. 01-88-00533-CR·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

OPINION

MIRABAL, Justice.

A jury convicted appellant of burglary of a habitation while armed with a deadly weapon. The jury assessed punishment at 55 years confinement.

Appellant filed a motion for new trial based on jury misconduct, claiming the jury discussed both the effect of parole and the fact that appellant did not testify on his own behalf.

After an evidentiary hearing, and upon the State’s agreeing to the granting of a new trial as to punishment, the court granted appellant’s motion for new trial as to punishment only. Upon appellant’s withdrawing his original election to have the jury assess punishment, the court reassessed punishment at 30 years confinement pursuant to the agreement reached between the State and appellant. The motion for new trial with regard to guilt or innocence was denied.

In his sole point of error, appellant alleges the trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant’s motion for new trial with regard to guilt or innocence, because the jury improperly discussed and considered appellant’s failure to testify.

The charge to the jury on guilt or innocence contained the following instruction:

A defendant in a criminal case is not bound by law to testify in his own behalf therein and the failure of any defendant to so testify shall not be taken as a circumstance against him nor shall the same be alluded to nor commented upon by the jury, and you must not refer to, mention, comment upon or discuss the failure of the defendant to testify in this case. If any juror starts to mention the defendant’s failure to testify in this case then it is the duty of the other jurors to stop him at once.

The jury foreman, Lisa Neal, executed an affidavit, which was attached to appellant’s motion for new trial, stating in part as follows:

[61]*61During the guilt/innocence stage of Raymond Lee’s trial some four or five jurors discussed the fact that Raymond Lee, Defendant, remained silent. I had to repeatedly remind the other jurors that his silence was not to be considered one way or another during the jury’s deliberations. I now believe that Raymond Lee’s silence may have been one factor considered by the jury in its finding of guilt.

At the hearing on the motion for new trial, Lisa Neal was the only witness. She testified, in pertinent part, as follows:

Q. (By Defense Counsel) What was your connection with the case of Raymond Harold Lee?
A. I served on the jury.
Q. What was your role on the jury? A. I was the foreman.
Q. Were you present during the jury deliberations?
A. Yes.
Q. And did you see what happened during the jury deliberations?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you hear what happened during the jury deliberations?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you have personal knowledge and recollection as to what transpired during the jury deliberations?
A. Yes.
Q. Miss Neal, during the guilt and innocence stage of the jury deliberations, do you recall any juror discussing [sic] regarding Mr. Lee’s decision not to testify in his own behalf?
A. Yes.
Q. Were there in fact jury discussions as to his decision not to testify?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you believe that those discussions influenced you in the assessment of the finding of guilt?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you feel that if that had not come up that you would have found not guilty personally?
A. Yes.
Q. And you’re saying that because of these discussions as to his silence that you held that against him?
A. I think so. Yeah.
Q. Were you aware of other jurors who so held that against them [sic]?
(Upon objection, question rephrased.)
Q. Had — from what you were able to see and hear in the deliberations, were there other jurors who expressed the same opinion as you did?
A. Yes.
Q. And you heard other jurors say they would hold that against him, his failure to take the stand?
A. Yes.
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Q. Going back to the matter of the guilt or innocence stage, do you remember what was said regarding his failure to testify on his own behalf?
A. Yes. One man said that if he weren’t guilty of something he was accused of, he would take the stand to tell every — he wasn’t guilty and in that sense Mr. Lee didn’t take the stand he must be guilty.
Q. Do you remember what other jurors said?
A. One lady said she thought she would want to give her own story, too, and she didn’t understand why he wouldn’t take the stand if he wasn’t guilty.
Q. As a foreperson of the jury, did you take any steps to have the jury stop discussing that?
A. Yes; I told them if they didn’t stop discussing it, I was going to call the bailiff. They stopped discussing it.
Q. You feel that did influence your finding of guilt or innocence?
A. I think so, yeah.
Q. Did any other juror state to you or did you hear any other juror state that affected their assessment?
A. The only other person that mentioned it was the lady whose father is a police officer. She thought that he should take the stand if he wasn’t guilty.
[62]*62Q. And did she express to the jury because he didn’t take the stand he must be guilty?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. Do you recall how she stated that? A. Just that if she were — if she weren’t guilty, she would take the stand if she was accused.
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Q. (Cross-examination by Prosecutor) Ma’am, prior to your [sic] seated in that jurybox you were voir dired on the defendant’s failure to testify; were you not?
A. Right.
Q. Didn’t you say at that time you could assess a decision on guilt or innocence whether he testified or not?
A. Right. I’ve never been on a jury before.
Q. Just answer my question. Now you also as foreman of the jury was charged that if anyone testified as to the defendant’s failure to testify, you are obligated to stop them; isn’t that correct?
A. Right; that’s what I did.
Q. You just testified you did that; isn’t that correct?
A. Right.
Q.

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Lee v. State, 775 S.W.2d 59, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 1933, 1989 WL 84046 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

775 S.W.2d 59 (Lee v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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