Luis Armando Carreon v. State

548 S.W.3d 71
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided January 11, 2018·No. 13-16-00347-CR·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

NUMBER 13-16-00347-CR

COURT OF APPEALS

THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI - EDINBURG

LUIS ARMANDO CARREON, Appellant, v.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee.

On appeal from the 389th District Court of Hidalgo County, Texas.

OPINION

Before Chief Justice Valdez and Justices Contreras and Hinojosa Opinion by Justice Hinojosa

Luis Armando Carreon appeals from a judgment revoking community supervision for failure to pay community supervision fees, court costs, a fine, and restitution, and sentencing him to four years’ confinement. In four issues, Carreon argues that the trial court abused its discretion by revoking community supervision on the grounds that: (1)

the evidence does not establish one of the alleged violations; (2) the evidence establishes that Carreon lacks the ability to pay; (3) the community supervision terms contained contrary provisions ordering Carreon to both support his family with his earnings and requiring him to spend all his earnings to pay restitution, fines, fees, and costs; and (4) the trial court was biased. We reverse and render.

I. BACKGROUND

On April 17, 2006, pursuant to a guilty plea, the trial court convicted Carreon on two counts of burglary of a habitation, both second degree felonies. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 30.02(c)(2) (West, Westlaw through 2017 1st C.S.). On the only count that is the subject of this appeal, the trial court sentenced Carreon to ten years’ confinement, suspended the sentence, and placed Carreon on community supervision for ten years. The judgment ordered Carreon to pay $23,107.36 in restitution, 1 $347.00 in court costs, and a $750.00 fine. 2 On February 24, 2016, the State moved to revoke Carreon’s community supervision, alleging that Carreon violated four community supervision terms by failing to pay $3,223.00 in monthly community supervision fees, $30.00 in court costs, a $750.00 fine, and a delinquent sum of $23,709.36 in restitution.

At the initial hearing on the motion to revoke, Carreon’s counsel asserted that he lacked the ability to pay the restitution. The State recommended that Carreon be

1 The record before us does not explain how the trial court calculated the $23,107.36 in restitution.

As noted below, the victims failed to testify at the revocation hearing. Thus, there was no evidence before the trial court as to how the restitution amount was calculated.

2 The other burglary count, which is not the subject of this appeal, ended in a similar judgment, but

the restitution amount was approximately $2,828.36. As explained below, Carreon paid this amount.

confined for two years, to which the trial court responded, “That’s not going to happen either. That’s ridiculous, okay? I wouldn’t even accept that plea bargain, okay? Give the minimum because it’s the minimum. That’s ridiculous. Now you know where I am. Either go to trial or go to trial. That’s pretty much it.” The motion was set for an evidentiary hearing the following day.

At the evidentiary hearing, the State moved to dismiss the motion to revoke because it believed that it lacked sufficient evidence. Specifically, the State asserted that it lacked evidence of the considerations outlined in article 42.037(h) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 42.037(h) (West, Westlaw through 2017 1st C.S.). Despite the State’s concession regarding its lack of evidence, the trial court denied the State’s motion to dismiss the motion to revoke, responding:

Okay. So when—please make that record because if the victim comes back at me for the State’s failure to even try the case, I will show that record to the victim and say, [t]alk to your DA because the State is failing to even try the case.

....

I’m not dismissing it. I’m going to make you go to trial.

....

That’s all I can tell you. Now, do your job. Now, I can’t make you call witnesses, but I can certainly make you go to trial and I’m not dismissing it.

Having no choice, the State called Carreon’s current and previous probation officers, Crystal Garcia and Anna Lisa Sanchez, 3 respectively. The State did not call any other

3 Sanchez was called to identify Carreon. Her testimony is not relevant to our disposition and need not be detailed. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.1.

witnesses, such as the complainant to whom restitution was owed. Carreon called himself and his wife, Erica Carreon. 4 A. Garcia Garcia recounted that during Carreon’s ten-year supervisory period, he was not arrested, he tested negative for drugs, and he attended the mandatory monthly meetings or timely rescheduled them. Garcia testified that the accounting department in the probation office determined how Carreon’s restitution payments were credited as between the underlying burglary conviction and the other burglary conviction. As a result of the accounting department’s allocations, Carreon paid all of the restitution ordered in the conviction stemming from the other count. On the other hand, Carreon paid no money towards restitution in the underlying conviction from 2007 through 2010. With the exception of 2016, Carreon’s payments towards restitution in the underlying conviction in the other years were minimal. 5 In 2016, with the help of family and after being jailed for failure to pay restitution, Carreon paid $2,166.00. Garcia could not explain why the accounting department in the probation office credited Carreon’s restitution payments as it did. On examination by the trial court, Garcia admitted that she failed in her duties by not creating a monthly budget for Carreon. B. Carreon Carreon testified he was placed on community supervision at eighteen years old,

4 We will refer to Erica Carreon by her first name.

5 For the other years, Carreon paid $42.00 in 2006, $38.00 in each year from 2011 through 2013,

$60.62 in 2014, and $56.00 in 2015. According to our calculations, Carreon paid a total of $2,438.62 towards restitution in the underlying proceeding. The record is unclear was to why the State asserted that Carreon still owed $23,709.36, more than the original amount of restitution ordered.

and he had not previously worked. Carreon had no car, and he, Erica, and their infant son lived with Erica’s parents in a three-bedroom trailer. Carreon’s first job out of jail was selling newspaper subscriptions door-to-door. It paid on commission, and it allowed Carreon to work only three hours in the evening. Carreon’s earnings were approximately $150.00 every two weeks and his supervisor, who drove him to work, eventually stopped transporting him.

After the subscription sales job, Carreon enrolled in a government program that matched probationers with employers. He worked at a fast-food restaurant until he was laid off. Through a different government program, Carreon earned a GED. He then pursued a “degree” 6 in “computer accounting” from a vocational school, but he incurred approximately $17,000 in student loan debt. As a result, Carreon’s tax refunds are now garnished to pay his outstanding student loan.

Even with some education in accounting, Carreon claimed it was difficult for him to obtain and maintain steady work. Some employers were reluctant to interview, further screen through a call back interview, or hire a convicted felon. When Carreon was hired, the monthly probation meetings bothered most of his supervisors. Carreon’s attempt to work in out-of-state oilfields was stymied by the probation office’s prohibition on such travel, and the only in-state oilfield job he obtained ended when the employer learned of Carreon’s criminal record.

Generally, Carreon posited that his status as a convicted felon posed an insurmountable obstacle to his employment prospects. At this point in Carreon’s

6 Carreon did not specify the type of “degree” he received.

testimony, the trial court questioned Carreon directly, as follows:

COURT: Okay. And you’re telling me that people care about whether you have a criminal background if you’re picking onions?

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Luis Armando Carreon v. State, 548 S.W.3d 71 (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

548 S.W.3d 71 (Luis Armando Carreon v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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