McCullen v. State

659 S.W.2d 455, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4890
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 8, 1983
DocketNos. 05-82-00543-CR, 05-82-00544-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 659 S.W.2d 455 (McCullen 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
McCullen v. State, 659 S.W.2d 455, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4890 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

ALLEN, Justice.

Jerry Lewis McCullen appeals two convictions for the offense of aggravated robbery. The cases were tried together before a jury. Appellant entered a plea of guilty in Cause Number 05-82-00544-CR, punishment was assessed at confinement for 10 years, plus a fine of $1,000.00. In Cause Number 05-82-00543-CR, appellant pleaded not guilty and on conviction his punishment was assessed at 20 years confinement, plus a fine of $1,000.00.

Appellant contends: (1) that the trial court erred in giving an additional instruction informing the jury that the sentences would run concurrently; (2) that the trial court erred in overruling his objections to jury argument of the prosecutor; and (3) that the trial court erred in failing to grant his motion for mistrial after improper jury argument by the prosecutor. We affirm the convictions.

In Cause Number 05-82-00543-CR, complainant Jack Williams testified that on January 24, 1982, at approximately 6:00 a.m., he left his apartment to go to church. On reaching his car, Williams was approached by appellant. Appellant told Williams that appellant’s father had just been killed and asked Williams to carry him to the hospital. Williams noticed that appellant had a gun. Williams told appellant that he could not help him and appellant walked away, but he returned, pointed the gun at Williams, and ordered him out of the car. Appellant told Williams that he wanted to borrow the car for a little while. Williams, afraid that he might be killed if he did not comply, let appellant have the car. Appellant then drove off. Williams immediately called the police and gave them a description of the car and its license plate, GNO 738. About a week later Williams received a call from the police department informing him that they had found his car. The car had been wrecked and stripped. Approximately $800 worth of tools, a tape deck, and the tires were gone.

In Cause Number 05-82-00544-CR, complainant, Luby Drivear testified that on the evening of January 23, 1982, he was at home with his roommate, Timothy Eatmon, and a guest, Dwight Gardner. Appellant knocked on the door and asked to speak with Timothy Eatmon. Eatmon was intoxicated and was unable to talk coherently. Despite this fact, appellant remained and talked with Drivear and Gardner for approximately 30 to 40 minutes before appellant identified himself. Drivear went to bed while appellant was still at the residence, but was awakened by a noise at his door. Appellant was removing property from the house. Drivear sought to prevent appellant from taking the property. Appellant pointed a rifle at Drivear and told Drivear “If you come any closer I will shoot you.” Appellant left the apartment and took with him a coat, television set, and a rifle which belonged to occupants of Dri-vear’s apartment. Drivear followed appellant, who left the apartment complex driving a car bearing license tag number GND 738. Drivear forced appellant into a ditch. Appellant fired two shots from the rifle toward Drivear. Drivear drove to a supermarket and reported the robbery to the police. On returning to his apartment, Dri-vear discovered that a second television set, a sum of money, and other articles of property had been taken in addition to the property Drivear had seen appellant take earlier. Appellant testified that he took Williams’ car at gun point, but said that he only intended to borrow it. He also admitted taking Drivear’s property — two television sets and a rifle and Eatmon’s jacket, but denied taking any money.

In his first ground of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred by giving additional instruction to the jury. During deliberations on punishment, the jury sent the following note to the court: “Do you mean that the sentences are to run separately or concurrently in both cases[?]” The trial court answered that “[sentences run concurrently when tried at [the] same time.” Appellant objected to the answer on the grounds that the matter was not within the jury’s province and that the instruction would allow the jury to consider the actual time the appellant would serve. The trial [458]*458judge, apparently relying on the provisions of section 3.03 of the Texas Penal Code (Vernon 1974), responded that the court had no discretion in the matter. Section 3.03 provides that:

When the accused is found guilty of more than one offense arising out of the same criminal episode prosecuted in a single criminal action, sentence for each offense for which he has been found guilty shall be pronounced. Such sentences shall run concurrently. (Emphasis added).

We are confronted initially with the issue of whether this particular section of the Penal Code is applicable. Texas Penal Code section 3.02(a) (Vernon 1974) provides for the permissive consolidation and joinder of prosecutions. However, to accomplish a proper consolidation of two or more offenses arising from the same criminal episode so that section 3.03 becomes applicable, the State must file the written notice required in section 3.02(b). Smith v. State, 575 S.W.2d 41 (Tex.Cr.App.1979); Caughorn v. State, 549 S.W.2d 196 (Tex.Cr.App.1977); see also Gordon v. State, 633 S.W.2d 872 (Tex.Cr.App.1982). There is no written section 3.02(b) notice by the State in the record before us. Although the evidence introduced at trial reflects that the offenses arose out of the same criminal episode and a single trial was held, in the absence of a written section 3.02(b) notice in this record we must assume that section 3.03 did not apply in appellant’s trial.

Assuming that section 3.03 did not apply in appellant’s trial, the judge retained discretion to cumulate the sentences assessed by the jury. Consequently, appellant argues that the judge’s supplemental instruction that the sentences would run concurrently was an incorrect statement. In Jewell v. State, 593 S.W.2d 314 (Tex.Cr.App. 1979), the appellant objected to the trial court’s supplemental instruction that the sentences would run concurrently on the ground that the matter was not properly before the jury. Six members of the Court of Criminal Appeals apparently agreed that such a supplemental instruction was incorrect in a case where section 3.03 was inapplicable,1 but two of the six (Douglas & W.C. Davis, JJ.) concluded that the error was harmless. (The other three members did not express any opinion on the point, since the case was reversed on other grounds.)

On the question of harmless error, we conclude that the holding in Haliburton v. State, 578 S.W.2d 726, 728 (Tex.Cr.App. 1979) controls here. In that case, two offenses eligible for joint trial under section 3.03 were tried together, although the opinion does not reveal whether the State had filed the notice required by section 3.02(b). The jury asked a question similar to the one here, and the judge gave a similar instruction. A panel of the Court of Criminal Appeals considered first whether the defendant was harmed by the instruction and held that no harm would be presumed because the information could have been used either to increase or reduce the punishment.

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Bluebook (online)
659 S.W.2d 455, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4890, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccullen-v-state-texapp-1983.