Simms v. State

905 S.W.2d 720, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 1796, 1995 WL 464934
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 8, 1995
DocketNo. 06-94-00227-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 905 S.W.2d 720 (Simms 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
Simms v. State, 905 S.W.2d 720, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 1796, 1995 WL 464934 (Tex. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

OPINION

GRANT, Justice.

Clarence Simms appeals from a conviction for aggravated assault. The jury assessed punishment at confinement for eight years.

Simms alleges that the court erred by refusing to include in the punishment phase charge the full range of punishment for a third degree felony as reflected in the Penal Code in effect at the time of the offense; that his motion to quash the indictment should have been granted by the court; that a fatal variance existed between the indictment and the proof presented at trial; and that the [722]*722court egregiously failed to limit the definitions of culpable mental states to the result of this crime rather than to the conduct.

On May 14, 1993, Clarence Simms, while standing in his own driveway, shot his neighbor, R.T. Sweet, in the buttocks with a rifle as Sweet was standing in his own driveway. Sweet died of the wound inflicted by Simms. Immediately prior to the shooting, the two had been involved in an incident while driving their respective vehicles on the highway leading to their residences. Moreover, Sweet and Simms had been feuding for almost thirty years.

Simms was indicted and tried for murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser included offense of aggravated assault and assessed punishment at confinement for eight years. The jury also found that Simms has used or exhibited a deadly weapon during the commission of the offense.

In his first point of error, Simms contends that the trial court erred in the punishment phase by refusing his request to include in the jury charge the alternative punishment of confinement in a community correctional facility for a term of not more than one year as provided by the Penal Code in effect at the time of the offense for the third degree felony of aggravated assault. Actually, the record shows that no such request was made until it was included in Simms’ motion for new trial.

Section 12.34 of the Penal Code in effect at the time of the offense1 provided that a third degree felony was punishable by: (1) confinement for a term of not more than ten years or less than two years, or (2) confinement in a community correctional facility for any term of not more than one year,2 plus (3) an optional fine not to exceed $10,000.

The trial court instructed the jury that if it found Simms guilty of aggravated assault, it could impose a sentence of confinement for a term of not more than ten years nor less than two years, plus an optional fine not to exceed $10,000. The court omitted any reference to the alternative of requiring Simms to serve a term of confinement of not more than a year in a community correctional facility.

Because Simms did not object at trial when the court failed to include the community correctional facility alternative in its charge to the jury, he must demonstrate on appeal that he suffered egregious harm by the omission. Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 157 (Tex.Crim.App.1985). He cites the case of Coody v. State, 812 S.W.2d 631 (Tex.App-Houston [14th Dist.] 1991), rev’d on other grounds, 818 S.W.2d 68 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). The court in that case held in relevant part that a defendant suffers egregious harm when the community-correctional-facility option is not included in the jury charge concerning the range of punishment for a third degree felony, because the defendant is thus denied the opportunity to receive a sentence less harsh than the minimum the jury was instructed it could impose. The court reversed the judgment and remanded the cause to the court of appeals for a harm analysis under Almanza.

The State contends that Coody is not controlling because in the instant case there was a finding that Simms used a deadly weapon in the commission of the offense. There was no such finding in Coody. The State relies on Tex.Code CRIM.PROC.Ann. art. 42.12, § 3g(a)(2) (Vernon Supp.1995), 37 TexAjdmin.Code § 163.55(c)(1)(B) (West 1993), and Scott v. State, 867 S.W.2d 148 (Tex.App.-Austin 1993, no pet.), to support its contention. That reliance is misplaced.

Article 42.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure relates to the imposition of community supervision (probation) against a defendant in a criminal case. Tex.Code CRiM. PROcAnn. art. 42.12 (Vernon Supp.1995). Section 3g(a)(2) of that Article provides that community supervision is not an option when a defendant was found to have used a deadly weapon during the commission of the offense for which he was convicted. Community supervision was not imposed in the instant [723]*723case. This Article has no bearing on whether confinement in a community correctional facility is an option under the Penal Code because this alternative is not offered as a part of probation.

The State contends that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has passed a regulation prohibiting confinement in a community correctional facility where there has been a finding that a deadly weapon was used by the defendant in the commission of the offense. It is fundamental that the rules and regulations enacted by an administrative body may not impose additional burdens, conditions, or restrictions in excess of or inconsistent with the statutory provisions. Kelly v. Industrial Accident Board, 358 S.W.2d 874, 876 (Tex.Civ.App.-Austin 1962, writ ref'd). Such a regulation collides head-on with the provision of the Penal Code enacted by the Legislature allowing this possible penalty for a third degree felony. Thus, the right of the defendant to have the jury consider this option cannot be excluded by an agency regulation in light of its authorization under the Penal Code. In Scott v. State, 867 S.W.2d at 153, the Austin Court of Appeals held that an offender is not eligible for placement in a community correctional facility unless a deadly weapon was not used during the commission of the offense, citing the agency regulation and the probation statute. The court in Scott failed to recognize that Section 42.12 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on which it relied is applicable only to sentencing options in situations in which probation has been granted.

In a later case cited by Simms, the Court of Criminal Appeals held that the trial court’s failure to include the community-correctional-facility option in the court’s charge on punishment was error and remanded the ease to the court of appeals for a harm analysis. Tubert v. State, 875 S.W.2d 323 (Tex.Crim.App.1994). This ease is directly in point with the present case. In Tubert, the court holds that Article 42.12, § 19(b)(2)3 was in no way implicated in the range of punishment for a person charged with a third degree felony under Section 12.34 of the Penal Code because community correctional facility is defined in Article 42.13, § 1(b)(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and does not restrict use of those facilities to probationers only. The court went on to say that “the

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Bluebook (online)
905 S.W.2d 720, 1995 Tex. App. LEXIS 1796, 1995 WL 464934, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simms-v-state-texapp-1995.