Turner v. State

462 S.W.2d 9, 1969 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1094
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 26, 1969
Docket42194
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 462 S.W.2d 9 (Turner v. State) 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
Turner v. State, 462 S.W.2d 9, 1969 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1094 (Tex. 1969).

Opinions

OPINION

MORRISON, Judge.

The offense is murder; the punishment, death.

Two men were killed and two injured by appellant by the use of a pistol during the course of a filling station robbery.

Appellant’s 1st, 9th, and 29th grounds of error relate to the jury selection which he contends was effectuated in violation of the rule of Witherspoon v. State of Illinois et al., 391 U.S. 510, 88 S.Ct. 1770, 20 L.Ed. 2d 776.

In his brief appellant points to ten veniremen. At the hearing on the motion for new trial affidavits of six of the ten were presented to the trial court which show that each of the six were thoroughly qualified for excuse under the Witherspoon rule. These affidavits were admissible for consideration by the Court at the hearing on the motion for new trial under the terms of Article 40.06, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P. We shall discuss the examination of the remaining four from the original voir dire.

Venireman Watkins stated, unequivocally, “I just don’t believe in putting anybody to death.”

Venireman Jackson said, “I don’t believe in the death penalty.” We quote further from his examination as follows,:

“Q. Mr. Jackson, if selected as a juror in the case, could you * * * in a case, could you, after hearing the facts, and if the facts were of a rather extreme nature. For example, a man put a bomb on an airplane where his mother was on board to blow it up, and he gets the Insurance, and the evidence shows that he is not insane, could you sit as a member of the jury in a case like that and vote for the death penalty ?
“A. I don’t believe in the death penalty. •
“Q. You have conscientious scruples against it P
“A. Yes, sir.
“COURT: I sustain the challenge; Mr. Jackson you are excused.”
Venireman Johnson answered as follows:
“A. Well, no, I’ll just put it like this. I don’t believe in capital punishment and I just couldn’t go along with it under no circumstances.”

Venireman Bradford is the most doubtful one and yet his statement that he could not, if elected foreman, sign a verdict of death in any case removes him from the scope of the Witherspoon rule. This statement would, we believe, disqualify him under the Boulden v. Holman, 394 U.S. 478, 89 S.Ct. 1138, 22 L.Ed.2d 433, which opinion explains further the holding of the Court in Witherspoon.

[13]*13The second ground of error is that the State systematically excluded black veniremen from service as jurors in his case. At the hearing on motion for a new trial, the State exercised only peremptory challenges and was not required to give his reasons for using them, Ross v. State, 157 Tex.Cr.R. 571, 246 S.W.2d 884. However, out of an abundance of caution, the prosecutor was called as a witness and gave his reasons for having challenged each of the veniremen about which he was questioned. He stated that he struck venireman Eddie Henderson, a “colored man,” because the police records showed that he had been investigated for burglary. He stated that he struck venireman Hardeman, a “colored” school teacher, because “he was very evasive on whether or not he could ever give the death penalty and made other statements about minority races and court appointed attorneys.” He further stated that he struck “colored” venireman' Willie Hobbs, because of a complaint made by Hobbs to the District Attorney’s Office about having been stopped by the Highway Patrol when others were driving as fast as he was.

His further testimony is clear that there was no systematic exclusion of black persons from the jury. In Johnson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 411 S.W.2d 363, we recently discussed the propriety of the State’s challenging black members of the panel.

Appellant’s third ground of error, if we properly understand it, is that since the indictment was returned prior to August 28, 1967 (the day the change in Article 37.07, V.A.C.C.P., became effective) and he was not tried until after such date that the jury was not authorized to set his punishment at death. Appellant’s case was first set for trial on October 23, 1967, and we find no merit in such contention.

His 4th, 5th, and 6th grounds of error are that he was not permitted to prove the results of a Belden poll which he says would show that more than half of the peo-pie interviewed did not favor the death penalty as punishment for crime. His reliance upon Witherspoon v. Illinois, supra, is misplaced. He cites no case which has recognized such a poll as valid evidence and we know of none. We further conclude that the Court did not err in limiting the cross examination as to the mental processes the veniremen would employ if selected to serve on the jury. Barry v. State, 165 Tex.Cr.R. 204, 305 S.W.2d 580.

Appellant’s 7th ground of error concerns the line-up identification. We quote from the trial court’s findings:

On the 18th day of January, A.D. 1968, during the trial of the above styled and numbered cause, the defendant, his attorneys, and the State’s attorneys, all being present in person in open Court, the State, separately, offered into evidence the in-court identification of the defendant, Oscar Turner, by the witnesses Harry Volcik and Patrick Wolf; and, at each offer, the defendant objected to said evidence and requested, and was granted, a hearing outside the presence and hearing of the jury to develop evidence in support of its objection and motions to suppress said evidence on the ground that said in-court identifications were the result of illegal line-up identifications by the defendant by said witnesses, and that said in-court identifications were in violation of various state and federal constitutional rights of the defendant. After the conclusion of each of said hearings, the Court admitted into evidence the in-court identification of the defendant by said witnesses as a matter of law, and further, as trier of the facts relating to the issue of their admissibility, the Court found from the evidence by clear and convincing proof and beyond any reasonable doubt that said in-court identifications were of source and origin independent of the line-up identification.
The Court therefore finds and concludes from the above facts, and all the evidence admitted on the questions, and [14]

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Bluebook (online)
462 S.W.2d 9, 1969 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1094, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/turner-v-state-texcrimapp-1969.