Schultz v. State

725 S.W.2d 411, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6283
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 29, 1987
Docket01-86-0434-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 725 S.W.2d 411 (Schultz 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
Schultz v. State, 725 S.W.2d 411, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6283 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

COHEN, Justice.

A jury found appellant guilty of driving while intoxicated. The trial court assessed punishment at five days confinement and a $400 fine.

Appellant’s first point of error contends that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to quash the information, because Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6701Z-1 sec. (a)(2)(B) (Vernon Supp.1987), is unconstitutionally vague. Article 6701Z-l(a)(2)(B) provides that:

“Intoxicated” means: having an alcohol concentration of 0.10 percent or more. Article 6701Z-l(a)(l) defines alcohol concentration as:

(A) the number of grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood;
(b) the number of grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath; or
(c) the number of grams of alcohol per 67 milliliters of urine.

Appellant concedes that the most plausible reading of the two sections is that a person is legally intoxicated when the weight to volume ratio of alcohol to blood, breath, or urine reaches .10 percent. However, he contends that the statute is vague because this results in different weight measurements of alcohol, depending on whether blood, breath, or urine is measured; specifically, .1 gram of alcohol in blood, .21 grams of alcohol in breath, and .067 grams of alcohol in urine. Appellant then concludes that one would have to consume “more than twice as much alcohol (.21 grams) to be found intoxicated under the breath test, as under a blood test (.1 gram), and more than three times as much as under a urine test (.067 grams).” We disagree.

First, the alcohol weights are different because the volumes of the measuring substances are different. In each case, the weight of alcohol is .10 percent of the volume of the measuring substance.

Second, the level of alcohol in the measuring substance is not intended to measure alcohol consumption. Rather, it *413 measures the alcohol’s effect on the suspect. Parr v. State, 575 S.W.2d 522, 526 (Tex.Crim.App.1978).

Appellant next contends that the statute is vague on its face because subsections (a)(2)(B) and (a)(1) do not make sense when read together. Appellant contends that one possible reading of the two sections is that “a person is intoxicated if he has 0.10 percent of the number of grams of alcohol per specific volume.” Appellant contends that “under this standard, everyone is always drunk; even if a person had 0 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, he would always also have 0.10 percent of that amount.”

Appellant argues, and we agree, that such an interpretation is absurd. However, it is presumed that the legislature intended a just and reasonable result feasible of execution. Id. at 525. No reasonable person would interpret the statute in this strained way. Accordingly, persons of common intelligence need not guess at its meaning and differ as to its application. Goocher v. State, 633 S.W.2d 860, 863 (Tex.Crim.App.1982).

In order to sustain a facial vagueness challenge, the law must be impermissibly vague in all of its applications. Village of Hoffman Estates v. The Flipside, Hoffman Estates Inc., 455 U.S. 489, 497, 102 S.Ct. 1186, 1192, 71 L.Ed.2d 362 (1982). Appellant has not demonstrated any reasonable application that is impermissibly vague.

Appellant next contends that the statute is vague as applied to him, because he has no “training in or familiarity with the technical terminology of alcohol testing.” The statute prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and the definitions of intoxication are not vague. Appellant’s lack of expertise does not render the statute vague.

Appellant next contends that the State must plead which measure of intoxication was used, so that he can prepare a defense. At trial, appellant moved to quash the information because it did not allege an offense. The complaint on appeal differs from the objection at trial, and therefore, presents nothing for review. Schenck v. State, 652 S.W.2d 509, 511 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1983, pet. ref’d). We note that this argument was rejected in Perryman v. State, 687 S.W.2d 371, 372 (Tex.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1984, pet. pending). Further, appellant was convicted on a general verdict form upon a jury charge that authorized his conviction upon proof that he was intoxicated either because he lacked the normal use of his mental and physical faculties or because he had an alcohol concentration of .10 percent or more. Therefore, we cannot conclude that the jury used any of the specific scientific measures of intoxication to convict appellant.

The first point of error is overruled.

Appellant’s second point of error contends that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to quash the information, in violation of Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. art. 21.22 (Vernon 1966), which provides that:

No information shall be presented until affidavit has been made by some credible person charging the defendant with an offense. The affidavit shall be filed with the information.

Appellant contends that because the complaint and information were both filed at 11:07 a.m. on March 4, 1986, the record does not reflect that the complaint was filed before the information. Appellant relies exclusively on Kaspar v. State, 376 S.W.2d 358 (Tex.Crim.App.1964), for the proposition that the law requires the complaint to be filed before the information. In Kasper, the court held that:

The complaint and information contained in the transcript show that they were filed on the same day, December 26, 1962. No evidence appears in the record in support of the motion to quash. In the absence of evidence to the contrary it will be presumed that the complaint was filed before the information. Byers v. State, 158 Tex.Cr.R. 638, 259 S.W.2d 193 [1953]; Snyder v. State, 168 Tex.Cr.R. 482, 329 S.W.2d 292 [1959].

*414 Neither Kasper nor article 21.22 requires that the complaint, i.e. the affidavit, be filed before the information; only that the affidavit be filed “with ” the information. In Talley v. State, 399 S.W.2d 559 (Tex.Crim.App.1966), the court held that a complaint filed one minute after the information satisfied article 21.22.

The second point of error is overruled.

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

Related

State v. Gray
801 S.W.2d 10 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
State v. Muller
798 S.W.2d 315 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
State v. Carter
780 S.W.2d 811 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1989)
Schultz v. State
771 S.W.2d 549 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
725 S.W.2d 411, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 6283, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schultz-v-state-texapp-1987.