Ortega v. State

462 S.W.2d 296, 1970 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1632
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 10, 1970
Docket43084
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 462 S.W.2d 296 (Ortega v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ortega v. State, 462 S.W.2d 296, 1970 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1632 (Tex. 1970).

Opinions

OPINION

MORRISON, Judge.

The offense is rape by force; the punishment, death.

Prosecutrix, while asleep in bed with her husband and three year old daughter, was awakened by her husband’s remark, “Oh my God, no.” She then saw a man, whom she positively identified as appellant, standing near the bed. He commanded prosecu-trix’s husband to turn his face to the wall, and brandished a knife with a hooked blade at the husband, with vile threats that he would kill the husband and the child. Appellant forced prosecutrix to commit an act of oral sodomy upon him and allow him to commit acts of intercourse with her, both rectally and vaginally. All this occurred in the presence of her husband and child.

Appellant’s first three grounds of error relate to the manner in which the court excused certain veniremen because of their assertion that in no case, regardless of the facts, could they vote to impose the death penalty. We have examined the testimony of each such venireman, using Witherspoon v. Illinois, 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed.2d 776, as a window through which to view their commitments against death as a proper punishment in a rape case. The State and the court ques[299]*299tioned each venireman and venirewoman carefully in an effort to trace the language found in Witherspoon. We quote from the examination of each venireman so excused. Venireman Thomas, after being questioned thoroughly, answered as follows :

Q. And if the Judge told you that it also carried any number of years in excess of five, could you consider that?
A. Yes.
Q. And if the Judge told you you could in fact impose life imprisonment, could you consider that?
A. Yes.
Q. And if the Court told you one of the possible punishments was by death, could you consider that?
A. For just rape?
Q. Yes.
A. No.
Appellant’s counsel was unable to shake Mr. Thomas from his view.
Venireman Hurd answered the Court as follows:
Q. You do not feel there is any case where you as a juror would or could ever impose death under any circumstances ?
A. No.
While being questioned, Venirewoman Wright answered as follows:
Q. You can’t think of any set of facts and circumstances which would render proper such a penalty in your personal opinion ?
A. No.
She gave the Judge substantially the same answers.
Venireman Burchfield answered as follows :
Q. Did I understand by your answers to his questions that in any case where the offense of rape were involved that you, irrespective of what the facts in a case might be and irrespective of how convinced you might be of the guilt of a person charged with such offense, that you automatically would vote against the death penalty ?
A. Yes, sir, I would.
Q. You just could not and would not? Would there be any facts where you could consider that to be a proper punishment.
A. No, sir.
Venirewoman Le Blanc, after full interrogation, answered:
O. There just are no facts where you could consider imposing death as a punishment for one you had found guilty of the offense of forcible rape?
A. No. I get touchy about death penalties.
******
A. I do not believe in the death penalty under any circumstances.
Venireman Mosley answered in part as follows:
Q. And as a juror, would you in any case that you felt the facts were extremely bad in the case, would your conscience permit you to assess the penalty of death ?
A. No, sir.
Q. Under no circumstances?
A. No, sir.
Q. Then do I understand in your thinking that you would automatically exclude consideration of the punishment of death for anyone you had found guilty of rape as a juror?
A. Yes, sir.
[300]*300Venirewoman Nolan, when being questioned as to proper punishment in a forcible rape case, answered as follows:
Q. Would you automatically exclude consideration of the death penalty as a proper punishment?
A. Yes.
Venireman Osterman answered as follows :
Q. I will ask you if you have any conscientious scruples against the assessment of death as a proper punishment in a rape case where you thought the facts called for it ?
A. Sir, I couldn’t do it if it was left up to me. I could not — capital punishment, I could not.
Q. Do I take it fairly from your answer that as a member of a twelve-man jury you could not individually think of any set of facts and circumstances which will render it possible for you personally to return such a verdict?
A. No, sir, I could not.
Q. Does that mean that in all rape cases no matter what the facts or circumstances you would automatically exclude consideration of the death penalty and vote against it?
A. Yes, sir, In any case.
Venireman Bloomquist answered as follows:
Q. Mr. Bloomquist, as the Court would understand, you do not feel there could be any facts and circumstances surrounding the commission of the offense of forcible rape which to your mind would warrant and justify and render it proper to impose death as a punishment even though the law authorized it, sir? Is that your position.
A. That’s my position, yes.
Q. You would, as you have advised Counsel, automatically exclude consideration of that penalty irrespective of whether you found a person guilty and irrespective of what you found the facts and circumstances to be ?
A. Yes, sir.
Venireman Britt answered as follows:
Q. I take it from your answer you cannot conceive of any set of facts and circumstances which would render it possible for you personally to render death as a verdict in a rape case.
A. Yes, sir.
Venireman Stelly answered as follows:
Q. I take it from your answer you could not conceive of any set of facts and circumstances in a rape case that would render it possible for you personally to return a death verdict?
A. I don’t feel I could, sir.
Q.

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Bluebook (online)
462 S.W.2d 296, 1970 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1632, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ortega-v-state-texcrimapp-1970.