Reseburg v. State

656 S.W.2d 84, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4282
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 31, 1983
DocketNo. 12-81-0089-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 656 S.W.2d 84 (Reseburg 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
Reseburg v. State, 656 S.W.2d 84, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4282 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

SUMMERS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a conviction of aggravated sexual abuse. Trial was to a jury and punishment was assessed at 30 years in the Texas Department of Corrections.

We affirm.

The record reflects that on the evening of July 2, 1978, appellant and a male companion entered a car occupied by Denise Richard and Kimberly Kay and compelled Denise Richard, the driver, by threats and display of a gun, to drive to a remote area in Harris County, where according to Richard, appellant left Kimberly Kay in the car and took Richard to a nearby bushy area away from the car and subjected her, without her consent, to two acts of sexual abuse and one act of rape. Appellant was charged by indictment with aggravated rape, two counts of aggravated sexual abuse and aggravated kidnapping.

Appellant plead not guilty to each of the four counts of the indictment. The record reflects that after the State had rested its case in chief at the guilt-innocence stage of trial, defense counsel, in the presence of the jury, announced appellant’s desire to change his plea as to count 4 (aggravated kidnapping) from not guilty to guilty reserving the issue of punishment thereon for submission to the jury. Upon this announcement the trial court retired the jury and admonished appellant concerning his guilty plea. After the admonishment the trial court announced to the jury that appellant had changed his plea to count 4 from not guilty to guilty. Thereupon, the State’s attorney in open court announced the State’s election to proceed on count 3 (aggravated sexual abuse), waiving counts 1, 2 and 4 of the indictment.

Appellant brings one ground of error in his original brief and a second ground in a supplemental brief. In his first ground, appellant contends “that the trial court erred in entering a judgment of conviction under count 3 of the indictment after appellant had been acquitted of that count and in so erring violated appellant’s right not to be twice placed in jeopardy of his liberty as guaranteed by Article 1, Section 14, of the Texas Constitution, the fifth and fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution and Article 1.10 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.”

Appellant’s argument is that because he pleaded guilty to count 4 (aggravated kidnapping), such operated as an acquittal to, and precluded the State from proceeding on, any of the other three counts. He also contends that the conviction of aggravated sexual abuse was in violation of the double jeopardy provisions of the Texas and Federal Constitutions and the Code of Criminal Procedure.

It is well settled that the State may in a single indictment allege two or more separate offenses arising out of the same incident or transaction, Stephens v. State, 522 S.W.2d 924, 928 (Tex.Cr.App.1975); Vannerson v. State, 408 S.W.2d 228, 229 (Tex.Cr.App.1966); Fears v. State, 147 Tex.Cr. 100, 178 S.W.2d 530, 531 (1944); and it is further established that the State is not required to elect between the counts for jury submission. Hughes v. State, 455 S.W.2d 303, 304-305 (Tex.Cr.App.1970).

The State may elect during the trial at any time before submission to the jury or it may refuse to elect and the court, instead of compelling election, may submit each of the counts and instruct the jury that it may return a verdict of guilty on one count only. No double jeopardy problems exist with this type of submission because the jury returns either an acquittal on all counts or a verdict of guilty on only one count. See Crocker v. State, 573 S.W.2d [87]*87190, 197 (Tex.Cr.App.1978). Moreover, where more than one count exists in an indictment the right of election belongs to the State and not the defendant. The fact that the State elected during trial to proceed on only count 8 “without the agreement of the defendant” is of no consequence, since the State, and not the defendant has the right of election. Zachary v. State, 505 S.W.2d 875, 877 (Tex.Cr.App.1974). The trial court did not err in submitting to the jury only the count of the indictment charging aggravated sexual abuse.

There was no error in allowing the State to elect upon which count it would rely prior to submission to the jury. Appellant asserts that, by changing his plea of not guilty to guilty on the aggravated kidnapping count, he effectively caused an election. It is well settled that the right of election belongs to the State and not the defendant, and the State is entitled to submit the more serious offense to the jury. See Stephens v. State, supra at 928; Zachary v. State, supra at 877. Appellant contends that the court, by allowing him to change his plea, effectively caused an election and this precluded the jury from considering the count of aggravated sexual abuse. This contention is without merit.

Appellant relies on Brinson v. State, 570 S.W.2d 937, 938 (Tex.Cr.App.1978) for the position that once a plea of guilty has been entered before the jury a conviction results as such plea is conclusive to the defendant’s guilt. In that case the offense with which defendant had plead guilty was submitted to the jury. In the instant case a submission was not made on the count that appellant changed his plea on, thus rendering the cases clearly distinguishable on the relevant facts. The mere announcement to the jury in the instant case that appellant had changed his plea did not result in a conviction causing abandonment of the three other counts. It is apparent that appellant’s conviction on count 3 (aggravated sexual abuse) in no way violated appellant’s double jeopardy protection. Tex. Const. Art. 1 § 14; Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. Art. 1.10 (1965). The jeopardy provisions protect an accused from twice being put to trial for the same offense. In this case appellant had but one trial and a conviction for only one offense. See Crocker v. State, supra at 197. Moreover, appellant’s position is not persuasive because even though appellant changed his plea, that count was not submitted to the jury and the jury was properly instructed on count 3 (aggravated sexual abuse), submitted by the court pursuant to the State’s election. See Paige v. State, 573 S.W.2d 16 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); and Chappell v. State, 519 S.W.2d 453, 462 (Tex.Cr.App.1975).

It is apparent from a review of the record that appellant’s change of plea on count 4 (aggravated kidnapping) was a calculated trial technique in an attempt to obtain a conviction on a less serious offense. It was ineffective and the State’s election and the subsequent verdict and conviction on count 3 were proper. Ground of error No. 1 is overruled.

Appellant in his supplemental brief advances his second ground of error that he “was denied reasonably effective assistance of counsel at his trial in violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution.”

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Bluebook (online)
656 S.W.2d 84, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 4282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reseburg-v-state-texapp-1983.