Stringer v. State

276 S.W.3d 95, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 8047, 2008 WL 4661830
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 23, 2008
Docket2-05-111-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 276 S.W.3d 95 (Stringer 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
Stringer v. State, 276 S.W.3d 95, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 8047, 2008 WL 4661830 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

OPINION ON REMAND

SUE WALKER, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

The primary issue we address in this appeal is whether Appellant Francis William Stringer forfeited his Confrontation Clause objection to the “Adult Felony History” portion of his presentence investigation report (PSI). Because Stringer placed his criminal history at issue and accepted the benefits of the order requiring a PSI, Stringer has forfeited or is estopped from asserting a Confrontation Clause objection to the Adult Felony History portion of his PSI. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

II. Factual and Procedural Background

Stringer pleaded guilty to a felony and filed an application for probation. At a January 27, 2005 plea hearing, the trial court accepted Stringer’s guilty plea and ordered the preparation of a PSI. No record of the plea hearing exists. Stringer’s punishment hearing was convened on March 30, 2005, after the trial court received the PSI. At the punishment hearing, Stringer’s counsel specifically objected that the four paragraphs of the PSI titled, “Adult Felony History,” violated Stringer’s Confrontation Clause Rights.1 The trial court overruled Stringer’s objection. The [97]*97State did not present any evidence, and Stringer did not present any evidence.

Based on the information contained in the PSI, Stringer argued that the trial court should grant him probation. Specifically, Stringer argued:

First, as the clerk’s record reflects, Mr. Stringer is eligible for probation. He’s sworn before the Court that he’s never been convicted of a felony.
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I would point out that in the presentence investigation, at one time several years ago he completed a year probation for misdemeanor theft. He has shown that he can accomplish things that are positive. His education history, he’s got two degrees, plus 30 hours towards a Master’s degree.... His employment history shows there that he’s had — at least the five jobs shown there, he’s always been a computer programmer....

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court sentenced Stringer to nine years’ confinement.

In a single point, Stringer complained that the trial court erred during the punishment phase by overruling his Confrontation Clause objection to the Adult Felony History section of his PSI. On original submission, following precedent from our court, we agreed with the State that Stringer had waived his objection to the PSI by signing a specific written admonishment.2 See Stringer v. State, 196 S.W.3d 249, 251-52 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2006) (citing Rosalez v. State, 190 S.W.3d 770, 773 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2006, no pet.)), rev’d, 241 S.W.3d 52 (Tex.Crim.App.2007); see also Hamlin v. State, Nos. 02-04-00240-CR, 02-04-00241-CR, 02-04-00242-CR, 2005 WL 3436523, at *1 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth Dec. 15, 2005, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (holding appellant waived his right to object to a PSI by signing admonishment like the one here). The court of criminal appeals held that the written waiver applied only to guilt-innocence, not to punishment, reversed our judgment, and remanded the case to us to first consider the other waiver grounds asserted by the State. Stringer v. State, 241 S.W.3d 52, 59 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). We do so now.

III. Forfeiture of Confrontation Clause Objection to Criminal History in PSI

A. Waiver, Invited Error, and Acceptance of Benefits Doctrine

The doctrine of invited error is properly thought of, not as a species of waiver, but as estoppel. Prystash v. State, 3 S.W.3d 522, 531 (Tex.Crim.App.1999), cert. denied, 529 U.S. 1102, 120 S.Ct. 1840, 146 L.Ed.2d 782 (2000). Waiver might usefully be distinguished from what is sometimes called “invited error.” Id. As the court in Prystash stated,

If a party affirmatively seeks action by the trial court, that party cannot later contend that the action was error. This is not really a waiver of error previously committed. Rather, it is part of the definition of what can constitute error, and quite reasonably defines error of which a party may complain as exclud[98]*98ing those actions of the trial court actually sought by the party in that tribunal.

Id. (quoting George E. Dix & Robert 0. Dawson, 43 Texas Practice-Criminal Practice and Procedure § 42.141 (Supp. 1999) (footnote omitted)).3 Another variant of estoppel is “estoppel by judgment.” That concept applies to estop “[o]ne who accepts the benefits of a judgment, decree, or judicial order” from denying “the validity or propriety thereof, or of any part thereof, on any grounds; nor can he reject its burdensome consequences.” Rhodes v. State, 240 S.W.3d 882, 891 (Tex.Crim.App.2007).

B. Statutory PSI Scheme

The statutory PSI scheme provides that “[ejxcept as provided by Subsection (g) of this section, before the imposition of sentence by a judge in a felony case, ... the judge shall direct a supervision officer to report to the judge in writing.” Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 42.12, § 9(a) (Vernon Supp.2008) (emphasis added). The statute also provides that the PSI is to include the “circumstances of the offense with which the defendant is charged, the amount of restitution necessary to adequately compensate a victim of the offense, [and] the criminal and social history of the defendant.” Id. (emphasis added). Thus, when a defendant files an application for probation and requests the trial court to assess punishment in a felony case, a trial court “shall ” direct the preparation of a PSI. Id.; Griffith v. State, 166 S.W.3d 261, 263 (Tex.Crim.App.2005); Whitelaw v. State, 29 S.W.3d 129, 131-32 n. 13 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). And the PSI shall report “in writing on ... the criminal ... history of the defendant.” Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 42.12, § 9(a). Nonetheless, a defendant may waive a PSI. See Griffith, 166 S.W.3d at 263 (dealing with an express waiver of PSI); Summers v. State, 942 S.W.2d 695, 696-97 (TexApp.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1997, no pet.) (dealing with an implied waiver via the defendant’s failure to object to the absence of a PSI).

The PSI was originally intended only to facilitate a trial court’s decision on the issue of probation. See Smith v. State, 227 S.W.3d 753, 761 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). The court of criminal appeals has repeatedly held that a trial court should use the PSI to determine whether the person convicted is entitled to probation. See id. at 761 n. 21 (citing McNeese v. State, 468 S.W.2d 800, 801 (Tex.Crim.App.1971) (trial court should “use the probation officer’s report and take into consideration all of the pertinent information to more intelligently determine if the person convicted is entitled to probation”); Valdez v. State, 491 S.W.2d 415, 417 (Tex.Crim.App.1973) (same); Clay v. State, 518 S.W.2d 550, 555 (Tex.Crim.App.1975) (same)); see also Anderson v. State,

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Bluebook (online)
276 S.W.3d 95, 2008 Tex. App. LEXIS 8047, 2008 WL 4661830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stringer-v-state-texapp-2008.