Taylor v. State

827 S.W.2d 538, 1992 WL 49589
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 3, 1992·No. 01-90-00391-CR·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

OPINION

DUGGAN, Justice.

A jury found appellant guilty of delivery of cocaine. Appellant pled true to one enhancement paragraph of the indictment, and the jury assessed punishment at 30 years confinement. We affirm.

On November 30, 1989, undercover Houston Police Department Officers Bled-soe and Anderson were flagged down by an individual later identified as Andre Blueffer. Officer Bledsoe got out of his car and Blueffer asked him what he needed. Bledsoe replied, “two dime rocks of cocaine,” street slang for two 10 dollar pieces of cocaine. Blueffer shouted this request to appellant, who was across the street. Bledsoe walked over to appellant, who held out his right hand. Appellant *540 held in his hand a number of “rocks” of cocaine, and he told Bledsoe to pick out two. Bledsoe picked out two, paid appellant with a marked 20 dollar bill, and returned to the unmarked police car. As the two officers drove away, they radioed the arrest team. The arrest team notified Officers Bledsoe and Anderson of arrests approximately five minutes later, and the two returned to the scene to find four men in custody. Bledsoe identified appellant and Blueffer as the men involved in the drug transaction. No drugs or marked bills were found on appellant.

Appellant’s first point of error asserts that the conviction should be reversed because the prosecutor improperly impeached appellant’s niece, Shemecika Stanley, by asking, “Did you know that your uncle was dealing drugs.”

Ms. Stanley, appellant’s 16-year old niece, witnessed appellant’s arrest and was called as a defense witness. During her cross-examination by the prosecutor, the following colloquy occurred:

State: Did you know your uncle was [dealing in drugs]?
The Witness: No.
Appellant’s attorney: Objection, your honor, there has been no proof established that Steven Taylor was dealing in drugs; that, at this time, is a mere allegation, and I would object to counsel phrasing it as such.
The Court: I will overrule your objection. But of course, your statement is correct, it’s for the jury to determine.

(Emphasis added.)

Appellant’s objection was essentially that the prosecutor’s question assumed as a fact a matter that was in dispute, e.g., that appellant was selling drugs. The emphasized portions of counsel’s objection and the court’s comment accompanying his ruling underscore that the inquiry assumed the matter in dispute, which was “for the jury to determine.” A complaint on appeal must comport with the objection made at trial, or be waived. Thomas v. State, 723 S.W.2d 696, 700 (Tex.Crim.App. 1986); Weaver v. State, 722 S.W.2d 143, 146 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1986, no pet.). Appellant complains on appeal that the prosecutor improperly impeached Ms. Stanley by offering character evidence to prove appellant acted in conformity with his character, in violation of rule 404 of the Texas Rules of Criminal Evidence. 1 However, appellant’s trial objection, that “no proof established that appellant was dealing in drugs,” did not raise the issue of improper proof of character. Because the objection at trial differs from the complaint made on appeal, no error is preserved for review. Thomas, 723 S.W.2d at 700.

Even if appellant’s complaint had been preserved, we note that appellant’s own attorney elicited testimony from the same witness on the same subject. On redirect examination by appellant’s attorney, appellant’s niece testified that appellant never dealt drugs around her, that she had never seen him with any drugs, and that on the night of the arrest she never saw Andrew Blueffer “in the middle of the street talking to some unknown person in the car.” Ms. Stanley did not testify to any matter that could cause harm to appellant.

Appellant’s first point of error is overruled.

In appellant’s second point of error, he alleges that his conviction should be reversed because the mandatory parole law instruction in the jury charge violated his right to the due course of law as guaranteed by the Tex. Const, art. I, §§ 13 and 19, and “there is indicia of harm evident in the record.”

*541 In Rose v. State, 752 S.W.2d 529, 552 (Tex.Crim.App.1987) (op. on reh’g), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declared Tex. Code CrimP.Ann. art. 37.07 2 unconstitutional on grounds that it violated both the Texas Constitution’s separation of powers doctrine, article II, section 1, and its due course of law provisions, article I, sections 13 and 19. On November 7, 1989, the people of Texas adopted a constitutional amendment that authorized the legislature “to enact parole laws and laws that require or permit courts to inform juries about the effect of good conduct time and eligibility for parole or mandatory supervision on the period of incarceration served by a defendant convicted of a criminal offense." Tex. Const, art. IV, § 11 (amended 1989). In reliance on the authority of amended article IV, section 11, the legislature re-enacted the hitherto unconstitutional article 37.07, section 4. Tex. Code Crim.P.Ann. art. 37.07, § 4 (Vernon Supp.1992).

The date of appellant’s alleged offense, November 30, 1989, was after passage of the constitutional amendment and the legislative re-enactment of article 37.07, section 4; thus, the constitutional amendment and re-enacted statute indisputably control the conduct of appellant’s trial. Nevertheless, appellant argues that while the constitutional amendment cured the separation of powers infirmity in the former article 37.07, section 4, the re-enacted statute still violates the due course of law provisions of article I, sections 13 3 and 19. 4 This is so, he urges, because “the vice in a sec. 4 instruction is [in] creating an environment for trial participants to induce harm,” as the Court of Criminal Appeals indicated when it analyzed Rose in Arnold v. State, 786 S.W.2d 295, 301 (Tex.Crim.App.), ce rt. denied, — U.S. -, 111 S.Ct. 110, 112 L.Ed.2d 80 (1990). Appellant’s argument is, in effect, that the Court of Criminal Appeal’s finding of a violation of due course of law in article 37.07, section 4 was not corrected by the 1989 constitutional amendment.

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Taylor v. State, 827 S.W.2d 538, 1992 WL 49589 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

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