State v. Bates

889 S.W.2d 306, 1994 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 129, 1994 WL 695899
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 14, 1994
Docket1205-92
StatusPublished
Cited by217 cases

This text of 889 S.W.2d 306 (State v. Bates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bates, 889 S.W.2d 306, 1994 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 129, 1994 WL 695899 (Tex. 1994).

Opinions

OPINION ON APPELLEE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW

MEYERS, Judge.

Appellee was convicted by jury of the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child. On July 1, 1991, the trial court assessed punishment and sentenced appellee to 20 years imprisonment. Appellee filed a timely motion for new trial on July, 3, 1991. The trial court, on the same date entered an order entitled “Order Granting New Trial as to Punishment Only.” On February 3, 1992, appellee filed a “Motion Regarding Conduct of Trial.” Based upon appellee’s motion, the trial court restored appellee’s case, “to its position before the former trial, including at the option of either party, arraignment or pretrial proceedings initiated by that party,” by order dated February 4,1992. The State appealed the February 4th order. The East-land Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s orders and reinstated appellee’s conviction. State of Texas v. Bates, 833 S.W.2d 643 (Tex.App.—Eastland 1992).

Appellee filed a petition for discretionary review, alleging first that the Eastland Court of Appeals erred in holding that it had jurisdiction over the State’s appeal pursuant to art. 44.01(a)(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure because the trial court’s February 4th [308]*308order did not grant a new trial. In his second ground for review, appellee contends that the court of appeals erred in reviewing the July 3rd order of the trial court on the grounds that the State failed to timely perfect an appeal from such order. Finally, in his third ground for review, appellee alleges that the court of appeals erred in holding that the phrase “as to punishment only,” in the trial court’s July, 3, 1991 order rendered such order a nullity which resulted in the motion being overruled by operation of law. We granted appellee’s petition for discretionary review on the above grounds.

An overview of the procedural history is essential to the disposition of this case. A jury convicted appellee of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Erroneously believing that the trial judge could grant probation, appellee’s lawyer requested that the trial court assess punishment. The trial court sentenced the appellee to 20 years confinement. Upon realizing that only á jury could have granted probation, see Tex.Code Crim. Pro. Art. 42.12, Sections 3 and 4, appellee filed a Motion for New Trial alleging that his lawyer’s mistake denied him effective assistance of counsel.1 The trial court then granted appellee a new trial “as to punishment only” on July 3, 1991. On February 3, 1992, 218 days after sentence was imposed in open court, appellee filed a “Motion Regarding Conduct of Trial” alleging that pursuant to Tex.R.App.Pro. 32, the trial court was without the authority to grant a new trial with respect to punishment only. Appellee argued that Rule 32 vests the trial court with the authority only to grant an entirely new trial and as such, the July 3rd order had the effect of restoring the case to its position before the trial. On February 4, 1992 the trial court entered an “Order on Defendant’s Motion Regarding Conduct of Trial” in which the trial court concurred that it could not grant a new trial on the issue of punishment alone, and that the effect of its earlier order on appellee’s motion was not to grant a new trial on the issue of punishment only, but rather, “had the effect granting a new trial upon the whole case.” The trial court therefore ordered in pertinent part that:

[T]he case is restored to its position before the former trial, including, at the option of either party, arraignment or pretrial proceedings initiated by that party.

The State appealed the trial court’s February 4, 1992 order to the Eleventh Court of Appeals in a manner consistent with Tex.R.Crim.Pro. 44.01(a)(3). The Court of Appeals held that the February 4th order was “null and void by operation of law” by finding that appellee’s “Motion Regarding Conduct of Trial” was in actuality, a motion for new trial. The appellate court then determined that based upon Tex.R.App.Pro. 31(a) appellee’s motion was not timely filed,2 and therefore would not support the trial court’s February 4th order. Bates, 833 S.W.2d at 644.

Via the same appeal, the State also challenged for the first time, the trial court’s order entered July 3, 1992.3 The Court of [309]*309Appeals set aside the trial court’s July 3rd order granting a new trial “as to punishment only,” by finding that the July 3rd order did not comport with Tex.Code Crim.Pro. Art. 44.29(b), which allows only a Court of Appeals or the Court of Criminal Appeals to grant “partial” new trials solely with respect to punishment. The Court held that since the trial court acted outside of its authority by granting the appellee’s first motion as it did, it effectively failed to grant or refuse the motion in conformity with Tex.R.App.Pro. 31(e)(3), and thus found the motion overruled by operation of law. The Court of Appeals therefore reversed the decision of the trial court, reinstated appellee’s conviction and then advised appellee to raise his claims in a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus.4 Bates, 833 S.W.2d at 644.

In his first ground for review, appellee claims that the Eastland Court of Appeals erred in holding that it had jurisdiction over the State’s appeal pursuant to Tex.Code Crim.Pro. Art 44.01(a)(3).5 Appellee contends that the appellate court was without jurisdiction to consider the State’s appeal because the February 4th order was not a grant of a new trial, and was therefore not appealable under Art. 44.01(a)(3). Appellee claims the July 3rd order already gave appel-lee a new trial and the “Motion Regarding Conduct of Trial” was simply a request for a correction of the July 3rd Order. Appellee concludes the trial court’s order of February 4th, was merely a correction or clarification of the July 3rd order which was not reviewable by the Eastland Court of Appeals pursuant to 44.01(a)(3).

The Rules of Appellate Procedure allow a trial court to modify, correct or set aside judgments and orders through motions for new trial, motions to arrest judgment and motions for judgment nunc pro tunc. Tex. R.App.Pro. 30, 33 and 36. Rule 36 vests a trial court with the authority to correct mistakes or errors in a judgment or order after the expiration of the court’s plenary power, via entry of a judgment nunc pro tune. A judgment nunc pro tunc, which literally means “now for then,” may not be used to correct “judicial” errors, i.e., those errors which are a product of judicial reasoning or determination. Instead, nunc pro tunc orders may be used only to correct clerical errors in which no judicial reasoning contributed to their entry, and for some reason were not entered of record at the proper time. See Alvarez v. State, 605 S.W.2d 615 (Tex.Crim.App.1980) (holding erroneous recitation that judgment was entered in Criminal District Court Number Three could be corrected nunc pro tunc as clerical error to reflect that the judgment was entered in Criminal District Court Number Two sixth months after entry of final judgment). By the same reasoning, this Court has declared that absent clerical errors a trial court can not alter orders granting a new trial outside the time of its plenary power. Moore v. State,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
889 S.W.2d 306, 1994 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 129, 1994 WL 695899, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bates-texcrimapp-1994.