Valdez v. State

661 S.W.2d 144, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5717
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 13, 1983
DocketNo. 3-82-231 CR(T)
StatusPublished

This text of 661 S.W.2d 144 (Valdez 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
Valdez v. State, 661 S.W.2d 144, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5717 (Tex. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

EARL W. SMITH, Justice.

Appellant’s motion for rehearing is granted. Our original opinion in this cause, dated April 20, 1983, is withdrawn, and this opinion is substituted therefor.

Appellant was indicted for the third degree felony offense of delivery of more than one-fourth ounce of marihuana. Tex. Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4476-15, § 4.05 (Supp.1982). For enhancement purposes, the indictment alleged three prior felony convictions. The State abandoned all but the second enhancement paragraph. In a bench trial, appellant pleaded nolo conten-dere to the primary offense and to the one remaining enhancement paragraph. On stipulated evidence showing appellant’s guilt of the primary offense and that appellant was the same person previously and finally convicted of the felony, as alleged, punishment was assessed at confinement in the Department of Corrections for fifteen years.

Appellant’s sole ground of error is that the trial court erred in failing to dismiss the indictment due to the State’s failure to comply with the Speedy Trial Act. In our original opinion, we overruled this contention and affirmed the judgment of conviction (as reformed to correct technical errors therein). The opinion was based upon the consistent holdings of the Court of Criminal Appeals that a plea of guilty or nolo conten-dere constitutes a waiver of any right to appeal grounded upon a violation of the Speedy Trial Act. Tex.Code Cr.P. art. 32A.02 (Supp.1982); Wooten v. State, 612 S.W.2d 561, 563 (Tex.Cr.App.1981); Velasquez v. State, 608 S.W.2d 674 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Flores v. State, 606 S.W.2d 859, 860 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Luna v. State, 602 S.W.2d 267 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Ramirez v. State, 590 S.W.2d 509, 510 (Tex.Cr.App.1979).

On May 11,1983, the Court of Criminal Appeals delivered its opinion in Martin v. State, 652 S.W.2d 777, Tex.Cr.App., overruling the above-cited authorities, and stating:

[w]e hold that such rights claimed by an accused under the [Speedy Trial Act] are not lost by a subsequent plea of guilty, and if convicted on his plea and supporting evidence that defendant may appeal to have the correctness of [the] overruling [of] his motion to dismiss decided by an appellate court. Ramirez, Luna, Flores ... and all other decisions to the contrary are overruled.

A plea of nolo contendere is equivalent to a plea of guilty. Fleet v. State, 607 S.W.2d 257, 258 (Tex.Cr.App.1979). Thus, under Martin v. State, supra, we must determine whether the trial court erred in overruling appellant’s motion to dismiss the indictment due to the alleged failure of the State to comply with the Speedy Trial Act. We hold the trial court did err in overruling appellant’s motion. The judgment of conviction will be reversed.

The mandate of the Speedy Trial Act is that a trial court “shall grant a motion to set aside an indictment, information, or complaint if the state is not ready for trial” within the prescribed time limit applicable — in this case, 120 days. Tex. Code Cr.P.Ann. art. 32A.02, § 1. The act sets out ten specified reasons justifying delay and excluding time in which the State must be ready for trial. It is now well settled that the act addresses itself to prosecutorial delay rather than the judicial process as a whole, and does not encompass the court or its docket. Although the trial may not commence until after the expiration of the specified time limit, the issue in applying the Speedy Trial Act is the State’s [147]*147readiness for trial. The focal point is the preparedness of the prosecution for trial and not the trial court and its docket. Mendoza v. State, 636 S.W.2d 198, 201 (Tex.Cr.App.1982); Barfield v. State, 586 S.W.2d 538, 540-41 (Tex.Cr.App.1979). In construing the act, the Court of Criminal Appeals has laid down the following rules which, to this point in time, appear to be well settled.

(1) The failure of a defendant to move for discharge under the provisions of the article prior to the trial or entry of a plea of guilty constitutes a waiver of the rights afforded by the article. Barfield v. State, supra at 542; Tex.Code Cr.P.Ann. art. 32A.02, § 3.

(2) When the State announces its readiness for trial within the prescribed time period, it makes a prima facie showing of compliance with the act, and in the absence of rebuttal by the accused to show otherwise, it is presumed that the State is ready. Fraire v. State, 588 S.W.2d 789, 791 (Tex.Cr.App.1979); see also Madrigal v. State, 634 S.W.2d 782, 784 (Tex.App.1982, no pet.).

(3) An announcement of ready by the State made beyond the prescribed time limit does not create a presumption of readiness within the time limit. Pate v. State, 592 S.W.2d 620, 621 (Tex.Cr.App.1980). A timely motion is, as stated, a prima facie showing that the State is ready for trial as the statute requires, but such an announcement is not essential. The State may also make a prima facie showing by declaring, at the hearing on the accused’s motion to dismiss, that it is ready, and was ready for trial within the statutory time period. Lee v. State, 641 S.W.2d 533, 535 (Tex.Cr.App.1982); Jordan v. State, 639 S.W.2d 477, 478 (Tex.Cr.App.1982); Scott v. State, 634 S.W.2d 853, 855 (Tex.Cr.App.1982); Barfield v. State, supra at 542. Where a post-time limit announcement of ready does not include a declaration by the State that it had been ready within the statutory time limit, the burden is upon the State to show its readiness within such time limit. Scott v. State, supra at 855; Pate v. State, supra at 621.

(4) Proper declaration of readiness by the State may be rebutted by the defendant with evidence that the State was not ready for trial within the limitation period. Barfield v. State, supra at 542. When the State’s declaration is rebutted, the State is put to its proof of excludable periods of delay that would, under the act, extend the initial time limitation. Pate v. State, supra at 621.

(5)If the trial court concludes that the State was not ready for trial as required, the accused must be discharged. Tex.Code Cr.P.Ann. art. 28.061 (Supp.1982); see Ordunez v. Bean, 579 S.W.2d 911, 914 (Tex.Cr.App.1979);

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Related

Luna v. State
602 S.W.2d 267 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Fraire v. State
588 S.W.2d 789 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Jordan v. State
639 S.W.2d 477 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Mendoza v. State
636 S.W.2d 198 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Ex Parte Delbert
582 S.W.2d 145 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Pate v. State
592 S.W.2d 620 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Ordunez v. Bean
579 S.W.2d 911 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Scott v. State
634 S.W.2d 853 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Madrigal v. State
634 S.W.2d 782 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Barfield v. State
586 S.W.2d 538 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Flores v. State
606 S.W.2d 859 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Ramirez v. State
590 S.W.2d 509 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Martin v. State
652 S.W.2d 777 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Apple v. State
647 S.W.2d 290 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Fleet v. State
607 S.W.2d 257 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Velasquez v. State
608 S.W.2d 674 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Lee v. State
641 S.W.2d 533 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1982)
Wooten v. State
612 S.W.2d 561 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1981)

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661 S.W.2d 144, 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5717, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/valdez-v-state-texapp-1983.