McDonald v. State

692 S.W.2d 169, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6937
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided May 23, 1985·No. 01-83-0573-CR, 01-83-0447-CR·Published·Cited by 32 cases

Opinion

OPINION

T. GILBERT SHARPE, Retired Justice.

Lee Oscar McDonald appeals from a conviction for engaging in organized criminal activity. Tex.Penal Code sec. 71.02(a)(1) (Vernon Supp.1985). The jury assessed punishment at 30 years in the Texas Department of Corrections. Appellant asserts 18 grounds of error. We affirm.

Appellant also appeals from a revocation of probation for a conviction of burglary and theft by receiving. That appeal will be discussed later in this opinion.

This court has heretofore passed on another case involving prosecution for the crime of engaging in organized criminal activity. See Lucario v. State, original opinion reported at 658 S.W.2d 835 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1983). The Court of Criminal Appeals on appellant’s petition for discretionary review vacated the judgment (not the opinion) of the Court of Appeals and directed it to further consider and discuss certain contentions made by appellant. This court handed down its opinion on remand on August 30, 1984. See Lucario v. State, 677 S.W.2d 693 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1984, pet. ref’d).

Several of the major contentions asserted by appellant are substantially the same as those made in Lucario. See particularly this court’s opinion at 677 S.W.2d 693. However, there are several distinctions between the two cases, particularly because the instant case involves a jury trial and additional grounds of alleged error.

After a brief reference to our basic facts, we will discuss those contentions asserted by appellant which we believe were answered by this court in Lucario, and we will then consider the remaining grounds of error.

Appellant was indicted on May 7, 1983, and his trial commenced on June 14, 1983. The state offered testimony of more than 50 persons relating to a series of crimes, the so-called “crash burglaries,” committed *172 in Harris County, Texas, during October and December 1982. Witnesses, police officers, detectives, and accomplices testified that the 11 separate offenses taking place during that period were masterminded by the appellant and his brother, co-defendant, John Douglas McDonald. The offenses committed by John McDonald, at the direction of the appellant, include thefts of automobiles on four occasions and burglaries of various department stores on at least seven occasions. Appellant was arrested on December 8, 1982, during the commission of a burglary in Harris County.

In Lucario, we summarized and discussed the basic contentions made by appellant in his four grounds of error, as follows: (1) that appellant’s motion to quash should have been granted; (2) that the organized criminal activity statutes were vague and overbroad; (3) that the statutes violated the due process clause of the constitution and are overbroad; and (4) that the appellant should have been prosecuted for more specific offenses. 677 S.W.2d at 695. More specifically, this court discussed the definition of terms in section 71.01, and expanded upon appellant’s contention that said section and section 71.02 are unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.

The words and terms discussed include “combination,” the “scienter” element, “participation,” the “mens rea” requirement, the “intent to establish, maintain, participate in a combination,” “collaboration in carrying on,” “carrying on,” and “unbridled discretion.”

This court pointed out that although an underlying offense — in that case aggravated robbery — was involved, the threshold element of the organized criminal activity statute is that five or more persons collaborate in carrying on criminal activities. In our case the underlying offense is burglary.

In Lucario we held that the appellant’s reliance on State v. Young, 62 Ohio St.2d 370, 406 N.E.2d 499, cert. denied, 449 U.S. 905, 101 S.Ct. 281, 66 L.Ed.2d 137 (1980), was not persuasive. In Young, the Ohio Supreme Court struck down the Ohio organized crime statute as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad on the same grounds as those asserted in Lucario. After comparing the Texas and the Ohio statutes we held that the Ohio statute was broader and obviously prohibited constitutionally protected activity, while the Texas statute did not contain those fatal defects.

Another contention raised in Lucar-io was that the punishment scheme provided by section 71.02 was not rationally related to the conduct of the accused and violated due process protections. That contention is not supported by any Texas prece-dential authority. The two decisions of the Illinois Supreme Court, People v. Bradley, 79 Ill.2d 410, 38 Ill.Dec. 575, 403 N.E.2d 1029 (1980), and People v. Wagner, 89 Ill.2d 308, 60 Ill.Dec. 470, 433 N.E.2d 267 (1982), relied upon as persuasive for the position that the Texas punishment scheme is unconstitutional, were held to be distinguishable. 677 S.W.2d at 701. The Texas statute properly punishes the commission of a crime more severely where it occurs in the context of organized criminal activity rather than where the crime is committed outside an organized criminal context. The fact that a harsher punishment may be imposed under sec. 71.02 than the punishment for identical activity which does not occur through an organized effort reflects the legislature’s recognition that organized criminal activity is more dangerous to the welfare of the state than unorganized activity, and is an obvious attempt to discourage and deter organized criminal activity within the state.

We adhere to our holdings in Lu-cario, which we believe require overruling the same contentions made by appellant here. We particularly agree with the holding that sections 71.01 and 71.02 of the Penal Code are not unconstitutionally vague and overbroad. The statute reaches only those persons who knowingly engage in criminal activity. Ground of error eleven is overruled.

*173 We now pass to appellant’s additional contentions.

EXTRANEOUS OFFENSES

One of appellant’s primary contentions is that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of allegedly “extraneous offenses.” Appellant requested before trial, in a motion in limine, that evidence of offenses other than the burglary specifically described in the indictment not be admitted. Appellant also filed a motion to quash the indictment. Both motions were overruled.

During the trial, appellant objected sporadically to evidence of allegedly “extraneous offenses” but the trial court admitted evidence of various offenses, and at the close of the guilt phase refused to give a limiting instruction to the jury on their use.

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McDonald v. State, 692 S.W.2d 169, 1985 Tex. App. LEXIS 6937 (Tex. Ct. App. 1985).

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