Urbano v. State

760 S.W.2d 33, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 2813, 1988 WL 117404
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 27, 1988
Docket01-87-00674-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 760 S.W.2d 33 (Urbano 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
Urbano v. State, 760 S.W.2d 33, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 2813, 1988 WL 117404 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

OPINION ON REHEARING

SAM BASS, Justice.

In consideration of appellant’s second motion for rehearing, we withdraw our opinion of August 25, 1988, and substitute this one in its place.

A jury found appellant guilty of aggravated robbery. The jury then assessed punishment at 99 years confinement.

[35]*35We affirm in part and reverse and remand in part.

Appellant does not contest the sufficiency of the evidence. In his first point of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in granting the State’s motion to shuffle the names of the jury panel, pursuant to Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. art. 35.-11 (Vernon 1966). Appellant’s specific complaint is that the trial court erred in granting the State’s motion to shuffle because the venire already had been shuffled once.

The State responds initially by raising the question of whether appellant objected timely and specifically. Appellant objected prior to both the trial court’s preliminary comments to the venire and voir dire. We hold that this properly preserved error for review on appeal. See Williams v. State, 719 S.W.2d 573, 577 (Tex.Crim.App.1986); Sewell v. State, 696 S.W.2d 559, 561 (Tex.Crim.App.1983).

Addressing the merits of appellant’s argument, we note that article 35.11 does not expressly limit the trial court to granting only one shuffle per case. Rather, the statute mandates that upon demand of the defendant, his counsel, or the State, the trial judge shall shuffle the names of the jurors on the panel. Williams v. State, 719 S.W.2d at 574. We note further that the statute imparts this right equally to the defense and State — each has the same, absolute right to a timely demanded shuffle. See Davis v. State, 573 S.W.2d 780, 781 (Tex.Crim.App.1978) (defendant’s right to shuffle); Overton v. State, 490 S.W.2d 556, 558 (Tex.Crim.App.1973) (State’s right to shuffle).

Appellant cites Fontenot v. State, 379 S.W.2d 334, 334-335 (Tex.Crim.App.1964), for the proposition that it is error for a court to allow more than one shuffle. In Fontenot, the Court of Criminal Appeals, in its majority opinion, held that the trial court erred in “allowing the State a second shuffle.” Id. at 334.

We note that the existing caselaw on this issue appears to be conflicting. A reading of both the majority opinion and the dissent on rehearing in Fontenot indicates that, on facts identical to that of the instant case, the Court of Criminal Appeals: (1) held the trial court erred in granting a second shuffle; and (2) required no showing of harm. The more recent case of Stark v. State, 643 S.W.2d 187, 189 (Tex.App.—Austin 1982) (“ Stark I”), rev’d, 657 S.W.2d 115 (Tex.Crim.App.1983) (“Stark II”), however, appears to have arrived at a different conclusion.

In Stark II, the Court of Criminal Appeals focused principally on the question of the propriety of the Travis County court practice of requiring a defendant to attend a courtroom different from that in which he will be tried, in order to observe a jury panel before he makes a decision about demanding a shuffle.

Because of the Court of Criminal Appeals’ focus on the issue of the location of the shuffle, appellant contends that the court approved, sub silentio, the language in Stark I to the effect that the article 35.11 allowed for only one shuffle per case. Appellant’s reasoning, however, is contradicted by the Court of Criminal Appeals’ express language in Stark II. The defendant in Stark (I and II) argued on appeal that he was “automatically entitled” to a shuffle, regardless of the State’s prior shuffle.

In Stark II, the Court of Criminal Appeals stated, in response to this argument, “Appellant’s interpretation of the statute is correct. The statute ‘gives the defendant an absolute right to have the jury shuffled.’ ” (Citations omitted.) The court then continued, “The statute also contemplates that court business will be conducted in the courtroom.” (Emphasis added.) The term “also” indicates that the court agreed with both of the defendant’s arguments.

The result of Stark II is that, even if the State has requested and received a shuffle, with which it is satisfied, the defendant still is statutorily entitled to a shuffle; therefore, because both, the defendant and the State are equally entitled to the rights provided by article 35.11, the inverse of Stark II applies to the instant case: if a [36]*36defendant requests and receives a shuffle with which he is satisfied, the State still is entitled to its own shuffle.

This interpretation of Stark II is supported by other Court of Criminal Appeals decisions that have recognized a defendant’s right to a shuffle, regardless of previous shuffles: Sewell v. State, 696 S.W.2d at 561 n. 1 (accused is entitled to timely requested shuffle, regardless of trial judge’s sua sponte shuffle) (see cases cited therein); Wilkerson v. State, 681 S.W.2d 29, 30 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) (sua sponte shuffle of a jury panel by the trial judge does not foreclose the right of the State and defendant to a timely requested shuffle); Yanez v. State, 677 S.W.2d 62, 65 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) (even though trial court already had jury panel shuffled, it was error to deny the defendant’s timely motion); Latham v. State, 656 S.W.2d 478, 480 (Tex.Crim.App.1983) (even though panel already had been shuffled twice out of courtroom [unclear whether by sua sponte decision of trial court or upon request of State], trial court erred in refusing request of defendants to shuffle in courtroom); and Smith v. State, 648 S.W.2d 695 (Tex.Crim.App.1983) (holding that a defendant is entitled to a shuffle “regardless of the manner in which the jury was originally assigned by the clerk”).

Appellant does not mention Contreras v. State, 733 S.W.2d 646, 648 (Tex.App.—San Antonio 1987, no pet.). In Contreras, the San Antonio Court of Appeals held that article 35.11 provides for only one shuffle per case based upon the timely request of one or more of the three statutorily-designated movants. The San Antonio Court distinguished Wilkerson v. State, 681 S.W.2d at 30, and Sewell v. State, 696 S.W.2d at 561 n. 1, on the basis that the trial court in those cases sua sponte ordered a shuffle, and because the trial court is not listed in article 35.11 as one of the three entitled movants, the shuffle mandated by article 35.11 did not occur. The San Antonio Court asserted that the following language in the Special Commentary to article 35.11 strengthened its decision. The Special Commentary reads:

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Bluebook (online)
760 S.W.2d 33, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 2813, 1988 WL 117404, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/urbano-v-state-texapp-1988.