Russell v. State

604 S.W.2d 914
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided September 10, 1980·No. 57906·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

OPINION

CLINTON, Judge.

Indicted for robbery by assault denounced by Article 1408 of the former penal code, appellant entered a plea of not guilty to a jury that found him guilty and assessed punishment. He is before us represented by two lawyers, each of whom has filed a comprehensive brief in his behalf. 1

The most vigorously contested issue in the case is first presented. It concerns a pre-trial ruling by the trial court denying a motion to suppress examining trial testimony and the in-trial ruling admitting the testimony and permitting it to be read to the jury. The facts giving rise to this situation may be briefly stated here.

According to an accomplice witness, on April 3, 1972 he and three other males, including appellant, drove to the location of a Radio Shack in Houston. They entered the store, looked around and left. In a while they returned and it suffices to say that the witness was in the process of committing theft when some ringing sound in the store prompted his leaving it whereas the others made off with “what they wanted” and put it in the trunk of the vehicle appellant was said to have driven to the Radio Shack. Unable to describe or otherwise identify the store attendant, the witness denied seeing any type of firearm or weapon that night. He admitted that the four then drove to the residence of one of them and the loot was divided, he later getting his part from one other than appellant, and was unable to say what, if any, portion appellant received. On cross-examination the accomplice recalled that he did all the talking to the attendant the first time but did not know who was doing the talking the second time.

Following an investigation of the incident and arrests of several persons, an examining trial was held September 25, 1972 before a justice of the peace of Harris County. The accused named in the cause number were Alfred Joseph, Jr., the party to whose residence the accomplice witness said the stolen property was taken, and James Russell, claimed by the State to be the same person by that name identified by the accomplice witness as having driven to the Radio Shack and, with the others, taken the stolen property. 2 The only witness who testified at the examining trial was the Radio Shack attendant, the late Thomas Stearns. 3 For present purposes, it is *917 enough to say that Stearns testified he was the victim of an armed robbery and identified the accused said to be James Russell as being present and armed with a weapon, a “small gun.” In other words, his examining trial testimony filled in the critical elements of the offense that the accomplice witness had not provided. 4

Appellant contends that admitting the examining trial transcript denied his right to confront the witness, that the transcript was not properly certified, that a proper predicate showing that the contents of the transcript accurately reflected the actual testimony was not laid and there was an insufficient showing that appellant was the same James Russell who was present at the examining trial.

We need not record the pendulum swing of the law in this Court on the point of constitutional confrontation being offended by reproduction of testimony of an unavailable witness given at a prior proceeding. 5 The rule ultimately settled was from an understanding of the common law as it existed in England at the time of the Declaration of Independence, Robertson, supra, 142 S.W. at 546, but it now must be considered in light of Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965) and its progeny.

In Pointer v. State, 375 S.W.2d 293 (Tex. Cr.App.1963) the opinion went off on the proposition that Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of due process was not denied by the fact that Pointer was not represented by counsel at the examining trial. The point made by this Court in its original opinion as well as on appellant’s motion for rehearing, 375 S.W.2d at 295, 296-297, was that an examining trial is not a “critical stage” in criminal proceedings for its purpose is limited to determining “whether the defendant is to be discharged, committed to jail, or admitted to bail.” Except as it may be said that the issue was ruled sub silentio, as subsidiary to the denial of right to counsel point, the Pointer opinion from this Court does not address denial of confrontation. However, the opinion of the Supreme Court in the cause does so directly on facts that are strikingly similar to those in the instant case. Thus, Pointer and one Dillard, having been arrested on a charge of robbing by assault Kenneth W. Phillips of an amount of money in violation of old Article 1408, were present at an examining trial. As chief witness for the State, Phillips gave his version of the alleged robbery in detail, identifying Pointer as the man who robbed him at gunpoint. Dillard tried to cross-examine Phillips but Pointer did not, although he was said to have tried to cross-examine some other witnesses at the hearing. After indictment but before trial Phillips moved to California and the State satisfactorily proved that he did not intend to return to Texas and, accordingly, offered the examining trial transcript of Phillips’ testimony against Pointer. In deciding the issues raised, the Supreme Court expressed the nature and purpose of an examining trial in Texas similar to the characterization given by this Court in its opinion. 6 Holding *918 that the Sixth Amendment right of an accused to confront witnesses against him is “a fundamental right made obligatory on the State by the Fourteenth Amendment,” and that the protection of the confrontation guarantee is judged by the same standards that protect these personal rights against federal encroachment, the Court further held:

“Because the transcript of Phillips’ statement offered against petitioner at his trial had not been taken at a time and under circumstances affording petitioner through counsel an adequate opportunity to cross-examine Phillips, its introduction in a Federal court in a criminal case against Pointer would have amounted to denial of the privilege of confrontation guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment .... [I]t follows that use of the transcript to convict petitioner denied him a constitutional right, and that his conviction must be reversed.” 7

While the Code of Criminal Procedure was enacted in 1965 to become effective January 1, 1966, there is no particular indication that the opinion of the Supreme Court in Pointer was taken into consideration in drafting and adopting the additions in Article 39.01, V.A.C.C.P. 8 Nevertheless, the qualifying phrase in Article 39.01, that the defendant “had the privilege afforded of cross-examining the witness,” must be read, in light of Pointer

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Russell v. State, 604 S.W.2d 914 (Tex. 1980).

604 S.W.2d 914 (Russell v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Dewayne Lee Waldrup v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Ex Parte: Robert Anthony Ruhl
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Ricardo Ontiveros Rodriguez v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Sanchez v. State
354 S.W.3d 476 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Sanchez, Ivan William
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2011
Mares, Ex Parte Anthony
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010
Soffar, Max Alexander
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009
Matias Morin, Iii v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000
Davis v. State
961 S.W.2d 156 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Coffin v. State
885 S.W.2d 140 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1994)
In re D.W.L.
828 S.W.2d 520 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1992)
Wilkins v. State
818 S.W.2d 844 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Long v. State
742 S.W.2d 302 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Mulder v. State
707 S.W.2d 908 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Robinson v. State
707 S.W.2d 47 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Taylor v. State
671 S.W.2d 535 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1983)
State v. Mee
632 P.2d 663 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1981)