Wallace v. State

170 S.W.2d 762, 145 Tex. Crim. 625, 1943 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 849
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided February 24, 1943·No. No. 22414·Published·Cited by 41 cases

Opinions

GRAVES, Judge.

Appellant was convicted of the offense of negligent homicide while in the performance of an unlawful act, and by the jury sentenced to serve two years in the county jail.

[628]*628This is the second appeal of this cause, the first being reported in 160 S. W. (2d) 256, 143 Tex. Cr. R. 596.

The facts shown by the State herein evidence that on July 5, 1941, at near 11 o’clock at night, on the public highway from Brady in McCulloch County to Coleman in Coleman County, appellant ran his car into the rear of the car of Mr. Beck, who was accompanied by Miss Mary Alice LeSeuer, and caused the death of Miss LeSeuer. The negligent and unlawful act charged against appellant being that he was at such time driving his car at a greater rate of speed than 55 miles per hour. There is no reason to repeat the full testimony, it being to a large extent similar to that of the first trial. However, it is to be noticed here that the State produced a new witness who testified as to appellant’s speed a short time prior to the accident being in excess of 55 miles per hour. Despite appellant’s testimony to the contrary, the jury evidently believed such witness, and we •think it sufficient to say that such was their province, and the facts impress us as being of sufficient force to uphold their verdict. That appellant was traveling at a high rate of speed can be gathered from the physical facts. His car struck the rear end of the Beck car, mashed it in, and the Beck car was found about 73 steps from the point of impact, across the road, over a ditch, through a fence and against a tree. The impact sprayed gasoline over the Beck car, as well as appellant’s car, setting both cars afire, and burning the young lady to death. Evidently the testimony of the witness, Mexican though he might have been, found corroboration in the facts on the ground at the scene of the accident.

Appellant complains because, after this cause had been reversed by this court, the State’s attorney prepared another and different indictment, which was returned by the grand jury, and while the previous indictment was pending the trial court called him for trial upon this present new indictment. Appellant says that such an action was erroneous, and that it was the duty of the trial court to first dispose of the original first indictment before calling the later case. He cites us to the case of State v. Anderson, District Judge, 119 Tex. 110, 26 S. W. (2d) 174, 69 A. L. R. 233. In that case it appears that the district judge, without the consent of the prosecuting attorney, had dismissed about 38 cases against two defendants, over the protest of the State’s attorney. In a learned opinion by Judge Leddy it was shown that under the common law the State’s attorney alone had the power of entering a nolle prosequi and' causing the dismissal of criminal cases. The Legislature of this State saw fit [629]*629to change such common law rule by adopting a different rule as is shown by Art. 577, C. C. P., which reads as follows: “The district or county attorney may, by permission of the court, dismiss a criminal action at any time upon filing a written statement with the papers in the case setting out his reasons for such dismissal. No case shall be dismissed without the consent of the presiding judge.”

It was noted in State v. Anderson, supra, that the power of dismissal of a criminal cause rested primarily in the initiative of the State’s attorney, but also required the consent of the presiding judge. We think that case correctly decided the law and laid down the proper procedure. However we do not think the same is in point relative to appellant’s contention herein. It is shown by the bill that while this trial proceeded, nothing whatever was done with the first case, but the court merely left the same on the docket while trying the instant case, and a short time after this trial, upon an oral motion of the district attorney, the earlier cause against appellant was by the trial court dismissed. The trial court qualified this bill No. 1 by saying, among other things, that: “The defendant at no time offered any evidence showing any injury or injustice to him as a result of the trial of cause No. 3327-A prior to the trial of cause No. 3318-A, nor did he contend that any injury or injustice had been done to him as a result thereof, but merely contended that the cases should be called and disposed of in the order in which they appeared on the docket.”

The order of calling the docket is largely discretionary with the trial court. Simpson v. State, 263 S. W. 273, 97 Tex. Cr. R. 57.

In the case of Robinson v. State, 56 Tex. Cr. R. 62, 118 S. W. 1037, there were two indictments against the accused, the second one being for the purpose of curing- a defect in the first one. This court held it was proper for the second case to be called and tried, especially in view of the trial court’s statement in the bill that it did not appear that defendant would be deprived of any right or defense by granting the request of the district attorney to try the second case. We also held in the case of Carter v. State, 44 Tex. Cr. R. 312, 70 S. W. 971, that the pendency of another indictment for the same offense, or for an offense growing out of the same act, cannot be pleaded in abatement or in bar of the indictment. See Schindler v. State, 15 Tex. App. 394.

[630]*630It is true, as appellánt contends, the statute, Art. 577, C. C. P., requires that the dismissal of a criminal cause should be initiated by the filing of a written motion by the State’s attorney, which must receive the sanction of the court. This written motion seems not to have been filed; but we can see no possible reason why such an irregularity could have affected appellant to his injury in any way, nor deprived him of any right or of any defense.

We have heretofore held in the case of Ex parte Rusk, 128 Tex. Cr. R. 135, 79 S. W. (2d) 865, that the portion of Art. 577, C. C. P., relative to the motion of the State’s attorney being in writing, was merely directory not mandatory, and an oral motion of the attorney that obtained the desired result was sufficient. Also see cases there cited.

Bill of exceptions No. 2 seems to us to be without merit, and is overruled.

Bill of exceptions No. 3 relates to the following occurrence: During the cross-examination of appellant while on the stand, a recess was had, and it appeared that appellant had some kind of conversation with one of his attorneys during such recess. Upon a resumption of the trial, appellant was asked by one of the attorneys representing the State if he did not have a conversation with one of his attorneys during the recent recess of the trial. To this question and any answer thereto appellant objected, and his objection was by the court promptly sustained; nevertheless appellant’s attorney took a bill to the asking of such question, at which time a private prosecutor said: “We want the bill to show that no response was made by the witness to the question.” We think the bill should have shown that the witness did not answer the question that the trial court very promptly sustained an objection to, but we would be called upon to imply intonations or hidden meanings as to the statement of the private prosecutor before we could see any error herein. This we are unable to do. As it appears to us, this was but an effort to see that the complained of matter should be fairly placed before this court, and the prompt ruling of the trial court divested the occurrence of any probable error.

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Wallace v. State, 170 S.W.2d 762, 145 Tex. Crim. 625, 1943 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 849 (Tex. 1943).

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