Wallace v. State

501 S.W.2d 883, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1924
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 3, 1973
Docket46449
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 501 S.W.2d 883 (Wallace 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
Wallace v. State, 501 S.W.2d 883, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1924 (Tex. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

GREEN, Commissioner.

Appellant, Richard Wallace, was convicted in a jury trial of unlawful sale of a narcotic drug, to-wit, marihuana. His punishment was assessed at ten years.

In his first ground of error, appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction.

Dean Thompson, a narcotic agent with the Texas Department of Public Safety, testified that he worked as an undercover agent of the Department in Tyler from about August 1, 1970 to about November 1, 1970. During that time he became acquainted with appellant, and saw him on numerous occasions. Thompson testified that on October 13, 1970, appellant sold to him 27.94 grams of marihuana, sufficient to make about 55 to 60 average size cigarettes, in two baggies, for $24.00, and four pills of “acid” for $10.00. Chain of custody was duly proved, and George E. Brown, a chemist and toxicologist, testified that the contents of the two baggies was marihuana, and the substance was admitted in evidence without objection.

Appellant testified, denying that he had sold any marihuana or other narcotic drug to Thompson. He stated that he had never seen Thompson until months later, when the agent was a witness in court in another trial. Appellant testified to an alibi, and was supported in such testimony by other witnesses. The issue of alibi was submitted to the jury in the court’s charge.

It is appellant’s primary contention under this ground of error that Thompson’s own admissions established that he had no independent recollection of the facts, and that his testimony was based on a report prepared from his notes made two days after the offense.

Even though the witness referred to his notes on several occasions, 1 and was unable to recall, at times, minute details concerning such things as the way appellant was dressed, the exact time of day that some events occurred, the names of other people in the vicinity when the sale occurred, whether appellant wore his arm in a sling (he had two days previously been in a car accident), and some other matters, the fact remains that the witness testified positively and without hesitation and apparently without reference to his notes that appellant sold him marihuana in Tyler, Smith County, on October 13, 1970. The evidence is sufficient to support the conviction.

In his second ground, appellant contends that the court erred in permitting the State at the guilt stage of the trial to inquire of the character witness Haws if he had heard that subsequent to the date of the primary offense the “defendant was found in a drug raid with a needle in his arm.”

The third ground alleges error when the trial court permitted the State to cross-examine the character witness Haws with regard to specific misconduct of appellant.

Haws testified at the guilt stage of the trial that in his opinion the general reputation of appellant in the community in which he lived as being a peaceable, law-abiding citizen “is good.” On cross-examination, he was asked if he had heard that subsequent to the instant offense appellant was found in a drug raid with a needle in *885 his arm. Haws answered, “No, sir.” Appellant’s objection that this was a bad faith attempt to discredit the witness on a matter that does not constitute proper cross-examination of a character witness was overruled.

Appellant’s complaint under his second ground is that the State was permitted to ask a “have you heard” question at the guilt stage of the trial concerning a matter occurring after the commission of the primary offense. Appellant agrees that at the punishment phase the reputation of the accused down to the time of the trial is in issue. Art. 37.07, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P.; Broadway v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 418 S.W.2d 679; Wilson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 434 S.W.2d 873; Frison v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 473 S.W.2d 479; Wright v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 491 S.W.2d 936. In support of his contention as to prejudicial error in the asking of the question as to an incident occurring after the primary offense, appellant cites Kitchens v. State, 111 Tex.Cr.R. 45, 10 S.W.2d 999; Hennington v. State, 141 Tex.Cr.R. 449, 149 S.W.2d 587; 62 Tex.Jur.2d, Witnesses, Sec. 197, p. 119.

It is not necessary that we rule on the legal issue of whether present reputation was in issue at the guilt stage.

Since the witness answered that he had not heard of any such incident as inquired about, appellant’s only complaint here made is that the mere asking of the question constituted harmful, reversible error. However, as stated by this Court in Sensabaugh v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 426 S.W.2d 224, p. 227:

“The Court of Criminal Appeals rarely reverses a conviction of crime solely because an improper question was propounded to the defendant as a witness. To cause a reversal the question must be obviously harmful to the defendant. See Mounts v. State, 148 Tex.Cr.R. 177, 185 S.W.2d 731.”

This statement would also apply to a question propounded to a character witness. There is nothing in the record to show bad faith on the part of the State in making the inquiry. See Blanco v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 471 S.W.2d 70. If the question complained of was improper, which we do not decide, we cannot conclude that the mere asking it was so harmful to appellant as to require a reversal.

Furthermore, appellant did not state that he was objecting because the matter inquired about occurred subsequent to the primary offense. His objection was too general to call this to the attention of the trial court. Appellant cannot for the first time raise this contention on appeal. Wright v. State, supra.

Appellant also complains that the question asked the witness Haws mentioned above was improper, since it was with regard to specific misconduct of appellant. The rule is well established that a character witness may be asked in good faith “have you heard” questions concerning specific acts of misconduct in order to test the knowledge and credibility of the witness and to enable the jury to weigh his testimony. Brown v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 477 S.W.2d 617, and cases cited; Childs v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 491 S.W.2d 907. Of course, a question is improper if it asks whether the character witness knows that a certain act was committed by accused, for that implies that the specific act was committed. Brown, supra.

The question asked the witness Haws by the State was not so phrased that it inquired whether the witness knew that appellant was guilty of specific misconduct. The prosecutor’s inquiry was prefaced with “have you heard” which did not imply that the act had been committed.

Appellant’s second and third grounds of error are overruled.

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Bluebook (online)
501 S.W.2d 883, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wallace-v-state-texcrimapp-1973.