Lunn v. State

753 S.W.2d 492, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1842, 1988 WL 79854
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 29, 1988
Docket09-87-126 CR
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 753 S.W.2d 492 (Lunn 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
Lunn v. State, 753 S.W.2d 492, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1842, 1988 WL 79854 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

BURGESS, Justice.

A jury convicted appellant of sexual assault and assessed his punishment at fifteen years in the Texas Department of Corrections. He now urges six points of error.

Appellant argues under his first three points of error that certain portions of the state’s jury argument during punishment phase was improper in that it contradicted the court’s charge by urging the jury to apply the parole laws to this particular defendant. 1 The first point of error involves the following:

*493 [PROSECUTOR]: ... I do want to talk to you about the second page of the charge where it starts talking about good time, the amount of good time a person can get in the penitentiary. I don’t know if that’s as plain to you as it is to say some of us that work all the time with it. Obviously, if we went up to the Texas Department of Corrections, and I stayed for a year, I would have a one-year of actual time. That’s not good time. If I do what I’m supposed to do up there and if I try to rehabilitate myself and try to get back on the right footing and obey the rules and regulations of the Texas Department of Corrections, then I could or may — I can’t tell you how much or what percentage or whether it’s 3 for 1 or 5 for 1. I can’t tell you that, but the prisoner may get good time credit.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: I object, Your Honor, to this argument. May we approach the bench? (The following occurred at the bench.) Your Honor, you instructed here that they are not to consider how the parole laws and good time would be applied to this particular defendant.
THE COURT: You’re saying this defendant may get good time—
[PROSECUTOR]: I’m saying he may get good time. It says in this charge that they can consider it.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: The point is, Your Honor, the prosecution nor I can show the jury how good time is related or may be applied.
[PROSECUTOR]: I’m not trying to do that.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: He’s implying it strongly.
THE COURT: I’m not going to grant your objection. But I’m going to issue a clarifying instruction.
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not sustaining an objection in this area. However, bear in mind that you have been given instructions in the charge about the parole and good conduct time in general is applied to criminal cases. Bear in mind you are not to attempt to speculate as to this particular defendant, how it might be applied to him. Just be guided by my instructions in this charge as they come directly from the statute and the law in this case. You may proceed.

The second point challenges this portion:

[PROSECUTOR]: It says that the defendant would become eligible for parole when the actual time served plus any good conduct time earned equals one-third of the sentence. Let’s say that you gave him the maximum sentence of 20 years. Say you gave him the maximum sentence and say he was completely incorrigible. He never tried to rehabilitate himself or anything else. He just completely gave all kinds of trouble, didn’t obey any rules, and was incorrigible. He would still be eligible for parole in seven years, folks.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Objection, Your Honor. I object to that argument. It contradicts the Court’s charge, the law in the Court’s charge.
THE COURT: I’m going to sustain the objection. I am not convinced that [the prosecutor] is attempting to argue improperly, but I must remind you again that you are not to speculate about how the parole and good conduct time would apply to this defendant because it would depend upon, for example, his conduct in prison as to how much good conduct time he might be awarded and you cannot predict that at this time. And also it would depend on decisions of the parole and other authorities. So, be guided by those instructions and please don’t refer to how it might apply to this particular defendant.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Judge, at this time you have told the jury to disregard what he said, have you not? I would ask the Court to instruct the jury to disregard what the defendant — what the prosecutor said and I would ask the jury be sequestered for a motion.
*494 THE COURT: I’m not going to interrupt argument for that purpose. If you have a motion, you will have to make it at this time.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: May we approach the bench? (The following occurs at the bench.) I think the jury has become so confused about what they should or shouldn’t do that I want to move for a mistrial in this case.
THE COURT: I deny the motion.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Was that put on the record?
THE COURT: Yes.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: The motion for mistrial was denied?
THE COURT: Motion for mistrial denied.

The third point alleges the following is error:

[PROSECUTOR]: So, any defendant under these same circumstances, if given the maximum of 20 years, any defendant, regardless of how incorrigible he was, he would still be eligible for parole after seven years. Actually after six and two-thirds years.
[DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Your Honor, I’m going to object. The Court states in the charge that you are not to consider the manner in which the parole law may be applied to this particular defendant. Counsel is arguing exactly that to this jury.
THE COURT: I heard him say “any defendant.” Any person who would be subject. I overrule the objection.

Under point of error number one, nothing was preserved for review. While defense counsel interposed an objection, the court did not rule, but merely gave an instruction. It is necessary for the complaining party to obtain a ruling on the objection. TEX.R.APP.P. 52(a). Failure to secure a ruling on the objection waived any alleged error. Jackson v. State, 536 S.W.2d 371, 372-73 (Tex.Crim.App.1976).

In point of error number two, counsel properly objected, the trial court gave an instruction and a motion was made for mistrial. The error here was properly preserved. We do not view the argument, however, to be the type that could not have been cured by the court’s instruction. See Logan v. State, 698 S.W.2d 680, 683 (Tex. Crim.App.1985).

The argument complained of in point of error number three, under this charge, was not improper. It merely applied the court’s charge to “any defendant.” If it were improper, however, it was harmless. The court had previously admonished the jury not to apply the parole charge to this particular defendant. Furthermore, there was no additional argument by the state in this context.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
753 S.W.2d 492, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1842, 1988 WL 79854, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lunn-v-state-texapp-1988.