Salazar v. State

642 S.W.2d 534, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4977
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 19, 1982
DocketB14-81-254-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 642 S.W.2d 534 (Salazar 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
Salazar v. State, 642 S.W.2d 534, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4977 (Tex. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

ROBERTSON, Justice.

The jury rejected appellant’s plea of not guilty to the charge of murder and assessed his punishment at twelve (12) years confinement. In two grounds, appellant argues fundamental error in the trial court’s charge to the jury and reversible error in his failure to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter. We affirm.

The record is before us without a statement of facts. The rule has always been that questions relating to the court’s charge or the failure to give requested instructions are not reviewable on appeal without a complete statement of facts. Sellars v. State, 401 S.W.2d 835, 836 (Tex.Cr.App.1966). Thus, without question, we cannot review appellant’s contention that the trial court reversibly erred in failing to instruct the jury on involuntary manslaughter. While we disagree with the Court of Criminal Appeals’ expansion of the concept of fundamental error in the court’s charge, we are, nevertheless, bound by those decisions; and it appears that appellant’s contention concerning fundamental error in the court’s charge is properly before us for review.

The indictment was in two paragraphs, which, omitting the formal parts, alleged that appellant:

on or about October 19,1980 did then and there unlawfully intentionally and knowingly cause the death of Antonio Garza, hereafter styled the complainant, by shooting him with a gun,

and that on or about the same time appellant

did then and there unlawfully intend to cause serious bodily injury to Antonio Garza, hereafter styled the complainant, and did cause the death of the complainant by committing an act clearly dangerous to human life, namely by shooting him with a gun.

In his instructions to the jury, the trial court followed the provisions of Article 6.04(b) of the Penal Code and instructed the jury:

A person is nevertheless responsible for causing a result if the only difference between what actually occurred and what he desired, contemplated, or risked is that a different offense was committed or a different person was injured, harmed, or otherwise affected.

And in applying the law to the facts, the court charged the jury as follows:

Therefore, if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, ERIBERTO SALAZAR, did in *536 Harris County, Texas, on or about October 19, 1980, intentionally or knowingly cause the death of an individual, to wit, ANTONIO GARZA, by shooting him with a gun; or that in Harris County, Texas, on or about October 19,1980, the defendant, ERIBERTO SALAZAR, did then and there intend to cause serious bodily injury to the said ANTONIO GARZA and committed an act clearly dangerous to human life, namely, by shooting the said ANTONIO GARZA with a gun; or that in Harris County, Texas, on or about October 19, 1980, the defendant, ERIBERTO SALAZAR, did intentionally or knowingly, with intent to kill LUPE SALAZAR, shoot at LUPE SALAZAR with a gun and, while so doing, did shoot and hit ANTONIO GARZA and thereby cause the death of ANTONIO GARZA; or that in Harris County, Texas, on or about October 19, 1980, the defendant, ERIBER-TO SALAZAR, did then and there intend to cause serious bodily injury to LUPE SALAZAR and committed an act clearly dangerous to human life, namely, by shooting at the said LUPE SALAZAR with a gun and, while so doing, did shoot and hit ANTONIO GARZA and thereby cause the death of ANTONIO GARZA, you will find the defendant guilty.
Unless you so find beyond a reasonable doubt, or if you have a reasonable doubt thereof, you will acquit the defendant and say by your verdict, “Not guilty.”

It is thus seen that while the indictment did not contain allegations concerning the intent of the defendant to kill or cause serious bodily injury to Lupe Salazar and the resulting accidental killing of Antonio Garza, the court authorized a conviction if the jury so found. There was no objection to the court’s charge. Nevertheless, appellant, relying upon Cumbie v. State, 578 S.W.2d 732, 734 (Tex.Cr.App.1979), argues this was fundamental error because it permitted a conviction on proof different from that required to prove the allegations in the indictment.

Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 6.04(b)(2) (Vernon 1974) preserves the transferred intent doctrine previously contained in Tex.Penal Code art. 42 (1925). In essence, that doctrine provides: “[I]f D shoots with intent to kill V, but misses and unintentionally kills W, he is nevertheless guilty of murder as he would be under the law of every American jurisdiction.” Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 6.04, comment (1974). According to Professor William L. Prosser the “roots of transferred intent lie deep in the old common law action of trespass” and originated in the King’s courts in the thirteenth century, but it was not invoked in criminal cases until 1553. Prosser, Transferred Intent, 45 Tex.L.Rev. 650 (1967). See also, Richards v. State, 35 Tex.Cr. 38, 30 S.W. 805 (1895).

In Hodges v. State, 160 Tex.Cr.R. 579,272 S.W.2d 902 (1954), the indictment alleged appellant murdered one Walker. The evidence showed the shot that killed Walker was intended for one Ockleberry. Appellant objected to the failure of the court to charge on the accidental killing of Walker, but the court rejected his argument, and in so doing, stated: “[I]t is not controlling that the indictment did not allege that the shooting was with intent to kill another and the deceased was killed by accident.” Id. 272 S.W.2d at 904. In Hayes v. State, 171 Tex.Cr.R. 646, 353 S.W.2d 25 (1962), although the indictment alleged an assault upon Martha Tennison with intent to kill her, the court instructed the jury under Article 42 and authorized a conviction upon a finding that the defendant intended to kill Laura Davies by shooting her with a pistol and, in the act of preparing for or executing the same he, through mistake or accident, assaulted Martha Tennison by shooting her with a pistol, he would be guilty. The Court of Criminal Appeals held this was proper. Id. 353 S.W.2d at 26.

The case of Hilliard v. State, 513 S.W.2d 28 (Tex.Cr.App.1974), appears to best answer appellant’s contention. There the indictment charged appellant with the unlawful killing with malice aforethought of the deceased by kicking and stomping and by other means unknown to the grand jury. In submitting the case to the jury, the court instructed the jury on the definition of a battery; instructed the jury of the terms of *537

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Bluebook (online)
642 S.W.2d 534, 1982 Tex. App. LEXIS 4977, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salazar-v-state-texapp-1982.