Vasquez v. State

779 S.W.2d 515, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2848, 1989 WL 140635
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 25, 1989
Docket3-89-029-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 779 S.W.2d 515 (Vasquez 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
Vasquez v. State, 779 S.W.2d 515, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2848, 1989 WL 140635 (Tex. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

A jury found appellant guilty of driving while intoxicated, second offense, and assessed punishment at incarceration for 120 days and a $300 fine. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat. Ann. art. 6701i-l(d) (Supp.1989). On the jury’s recommendation, imposition of sentence was suspended and appellant was placed on probation for two years.

Appellant first complains that he was denied due process and due course of law because the judge who imposed sentence and set the conditions of probation was not the judge who presided at appellant’s trial. This contention is without merit. It is not improper for different judges to sit at different hearings in a case. Woods v. State, 569 S.W.2d 901, 903 (Tex. Cr.App.1978).

Appellant’s remaining contention is that one of the conditions of probation imposed by the trial court is unlawful. The State responds that this question is not properly before us, arguing that the validity of a condition of probation may only be raised on appeal from an order revoking probation for a violation of that condition. The opinions cited by the State as authority, however, are not on point. The proper means to challenge the validity of a condition of probation imposed at conviction is by appeal from that conviction. Basaldua v. State, 558 S.W.2d 2, 8 (Tex.Cr.App.1977) (Odom, J., concurring). The reports are replete with such cases. See, e.g., Cartwright v. State, 605 S.W.2d 287 (Tex.Cr. *516 App.1980); Love v. State, 702 S.W.2d 319 (Tex.App.1986, no pet.). We therefore turn to the merits of appellant’s contention.

Texas Code Cr.P.Ann. art. 42.12, § 3a(b) (Supp.1989) 1 providés that when probation is granted by a jury in a misdemeanor case, the trial court may impose those conditions set out in §§ 6, 6a, and 6b of that statute. Section 6b of art. 42.12 provides, in pertinent part:

(a) When the court having jurisdiction of the case grants probation to the defendant, in addition to the conditions imposed under Section 6 of this article, the court may require as a condition of probation that the defendant submit to a period of detention in a penal institution to serve a term of imprisonment not to exceed 30 days or one-third of the sentence whichever is lesser.
(b) A court granting probation to a defendant convicted of an offense under Article 6701Z-1, Revised Statutes, and punished under Subsection (d), (e), or (f) of that article shall require as a condition of probation that the defendant submit to:
(1) 72 hours of detention in a jail if the defendant was convicted under Subsection (d) of Article 6701/ — 1, Revised Statutes, as amended; 10 days of detention in a jail if the defendant was convicted under Subsection (e) of Article 6701/ — 1, Revised Statutes, as amended; or 30 days of detention in a jail if the defendant was convicted under Subsection (f) of Article 6701/ — 1, Revised Statutes, as amended;
(c) A court granting probation to a defendant convicted of an offense under Subdivision (2), Subsection (a), Section 19.05, Penal Code, shall require as a condition of probation that the defendant submit to a period of detention in a penal institution to serve a term of confinement of not less than 120 days.

The question presented is the proper interpretation of § 6b(b)(l).

Appellant was convicted under art. 6701Z-1(d). The trial court ordered, as a condition of probation, that appellant be incarcerated for nine days. Appellant argues that under art. 42.12, § 6b(b)(1), the trial court was required to impose seventy-two hours of incarceration, no more, no less, as a condition of probation, and that the nine-day period of incarceration is therefore invalid. The State reads § 6b(b)(l) as imposing only a minimum period of incarceration, and argues that the trial court was free to impose the longer period within the limits of its discretion under § 6b(a).

Article 42.12, § 6b(a) gives to trial courts the discretion to impose a limited period of detention as a condition of probation. Subsections (b)(1) and (c) of § 6b constitute exceptions to this discretionary authority, in that they require a period of incarceration when probation is granted in certain cases. Both subsections were enacted at the same time, as part of a larger reformulation of the laws governing driving while intoxicated and related offenses. 1983 Tex.Gen.Laws, ch. 303, §§ 11 and 19. See also 1985 Tex.Gen.Laws, ch. 427, § 1.

The mandatory period of incarceration required by § 6b(c) must be “not less than 120 days.” Clearly, the legislature intended this to be a minimum, with the trial court free to impose a longer period of incarceration. The mandatory periods of incarceration specified by § 6b(b)(l), on the other hand, are not preceded by the phrase “not less than.” This difference in statutory language lends support to appellant’s contention that the legislature intended to specify in § 6b(b)(l) the period of incarceration to be imposed as a condition of probation, and not merely set a minimum period as the State argues.

However, in construing a statute this Court must presume that a just and reasonable result was intended. Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 311.021 (1988). We may also consider the circumstances under which the *517 statute was enacted, the object sought to be attained, and the consequences of a particular construction. Id. § 311.023. When these additional factors are taken into account, this Court concludes that the State’s interpretation of § 6b(b)(l) is the correct one.

Trial courts have been authorized to require a period of detention as a condition of felony probation since 1975, and as a condition of misdemeanor probation since 1979. 1975 Tex.Gen.Laws, ch. 341, § 4; 1979 Tex. Gen.Laws, ch. 654, § 1. See also 1981 Tex.Gen.Laws, ch. 142, § 1, and ch. 639, § 2; Custard v. State, 746 S.W.2d 4 (Tex. App.1987, pet. ref d). Thus, prior to 1983, persons convicted of driving while intoxicated could be required, as a condition of probation, to serve a period of incarceration of up to thirty days.

As previously noted, art. 42.12, § 6b(b)(l) was adopted in 1983 as part of a legislative package dealing with the problem of intoxicated drivers. As part of this package, the legislature imposed stricter sanctions against those found guilty of the offense. In this context, it is unlikely that the legislature intended to restrict trial court discretion by shortening the period of incarceration that could be imposed as a condition of probation in such cases. Instead, the most likely purpose of § 6b(b)(l) was to take away the trial court’s discretion not

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Bluebook (online)
779 S.W.2d 515, 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2848, 1989 WL 140635, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vasquez-v-state-texapp-1989.