State v. William Owen Juvrud

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 7, 2002
Docket08-02-00064-CR
StatusPublished

This text of State v. William Owen Juvrud (State v. William Owen Juvrud) 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
State v. William Owen Juvrud, (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

                                                            COURT OF APPEALS

                                                    EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS

                                                               EL PASO, TEXAS

                                                                              )    

THE STATE OF TEXAS,                                     )                    No.  08-02-00064-CR

Appellant,                          )                             Appeal from

v.                                                                           )                       243rd District Court

WILLIAM OWEN JUVRUD,                               )                   of El Paso County, Texas

Appellee.                           )                       (TC# 20000D04369)

O P I N I O N

In this case of first impression, we address whether a district court has the authority to discharge a defendant from deferred adjudication community supervision and dismiss the indictment before the defendant has satisfactorily completed a minimum of two years of community supervision.  Answering this question in the affirmative, we affirm the trial court=s order terminating Juvrud=s community supervision and dismissing the indictment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL SUMMARY


On September 14, 2000, an El Paso County grand jury indicted William Owen Juvrud, an attorney, for misapplication of fiduciary property (Count 1) and theft over $20,000 (Count 2) from his former employer, Gage, Gage & Kern, L.L.P., an El Paso law firm.  On July 23, 2001, Juvrud entered a negotiated plea of guilty to Count 1 and the State, represented by a special prosecutor, dismissed Count 2 of the indictment.  In accordance with the agreement, the trial court deferred adjudication of guilt and placed Juvrud on community supervision for a term of ten years.  The court ordered Juvrud to pay restitution to the law firm in the sum of $15,000.  Less than four months later, Juvrud filed a AMotion to Dismiss and Discharge Probation.@  Over the State=s objection that Juvrud had not completed two years of his community supervision term, the trial court granted Juvrud=s motion.  The State timely filed notice of appeal. 

STATE=S RIGHT TO APPEAL

Before reaching the merits, we must address Juvrud=s challenge to the State=s ability to appeal the trial court=s order dismissing the indictment.  Article 44.01(a)(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure authorizes the State to appeal any order of a trial court dismissing an indictment.  See Tex.Code Crim.Proc.Ann. art. 44.01(a)(1)(Vernon Pamph. 2002).  Citing State v. Moreno, 807 S.W.2d 327 (Tex.Crim.App. 1991), Juvrud contends that the State=s right to appeal is limited to an order of the trial court which effectively terminates the prosecution before trial on the merits.  Because the trial court dismissed the indictment after he had entered his guilty plea, Juvrud reasons that the State is not permitted to appeal.  We disagree.


In Moreno, the trial court granted the defendant=s motion to quash the indictment but struck through language in the order stating that Athis cause is dismissed.@  Id. at 328.  The court of appeals dismissed the State=s appeal for want of jurisdiction since the trial court had not ordered the indictment dismissed and the State had not attempted to amend the indictment.  Id. at 329.  The Court of Criminal Appeals reversed, holding that the phrase Adismisses an indictment@ as used in Article 44.01(a)(1) is implicated whenever the trial court=s order forces any alteration of a charging instrument before trial on the merits and the State is not willing to comply with that order.  Id. at 334.  En route to this decision, the court noted that when the Legislature adopted Article 44.01 in 1987, it intended to afford the State the same appellate powers afforded the federal government under 18 U.S.C. ' 3731.  Moreno, 807 S.W.2d at 332.  Under the federal statute, the government is permitted to appeal from a judgment, decision, or order of a district court dismissing an indictment or  information, except that no appeal lies where the double jeopardy clause prohibits further prosecution.  Id. at 331.  In other words, the State is not permitted to appeal from an acquittal of the defendant following trial on the merits.  With this in mind, the Court of Criminal Appeals concluded that the State has the power to appeal from any trial court order concerning an indictment or information whenever the order effectively terminates the prosecution in favor of the defendant.  Id.  Given that the State is prohibited from appealing an acquittal,  the court=s specific holding that the State may appeal from an order dismissing an indictment before trial on the merits makes sense.  As a general rule, dismissal of an indictment after trial on the merits will implicate the double jeopardy clause.

Here, Juvrud=s prosecution was still pending prior to the entry of the trial court=s order dismissing the indictment.  If Juvrud had violated the terms and conditions of probation, the State had the ability to file a motion to adjudicate his guilt and proceed with sentencing.  The trial court=s order discharging Juvrud from community supervision and dismissing the indictment prior to the expiration of the community supervision period effectively terminated the prosecution.  While the dismissal of the indictment occurred subsequent to the entry of Juvrud=s guilty plea rather than before trial on the merits, the order nevertheless had the effect of terminating the prosecution before its conclusion.  In these circumstances, the State=s right of appeal does not implicate the double jeopardy clause.  We conclude that permitting the State to appeal does not violate Moreno.

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Related

State v. Cordell
34 S.W.3d 719 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Cuellar v. State
70 S.W.3d 815 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
State v. Moreno
807 S.W.2d 327 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Burke v. State
28 S.W.3d 545 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Donovan v. State
68 S.W.3d 633 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Cheney v. State
755 S.W.2d 123 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1988)
Alejos v. State
555 S.W.2d 444 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Watson v. State
924 S.W.2d 711 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1996)
Boykin v. State
818 S.W.2d 782 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)
State v. Welch
810 S.W.2d 13 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Dillehey v. State
815 S.W.2d 623 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1991)

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State v. William Owen Juvrud, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-william-owen-juvrud-texapp-2002.