West, Grover Daniel v. Texas, the State Of

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: November 24, 1987
• Docket: 12-87-00071-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

NO. 12-87-00071-CR

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

TWELFTH COURT OF APPEALS DISTRICT TYLER, TEXAS

6R0VER DANIEL WEST, APPELLANT § APPEAL FROM THE 86TH s JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT VS.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE § OF KAUFMAN COUNTY, TEXAS

Grover Daniel West was convicted of burglary of a habitation by a jury who assessed his punishment at ninety-nine years and a$9,044 fine. West presents three points of error contending the trial court erred In overruling his pretrial motion to suppress his written confession, in overrul ing his motion for Instructed verdict, and in conducting ahearing on his motion for new trial in his absence. We affirm the judgment. It 1s undisputed that the home of John Allen Manning and his wife, Ralaine Manning, located near Mabank in Kaufman County, was burglarized during the daylight hours of November 12, 1986. The record reveals that the Manning family departed their home at about 7:30 a.m. on that date and returned home in the late afternoon. The Manning's seventeen-year-old daughter, Keefa, was the first to return home. She arrived at about 3:45 p.m. and discovered the burglary. She testified that some of her parent's guns, clothing, and jewelry were missing. John Manning testified that when he arrived home at about 4:00 p.m. he noticed that awindow on the west side of the garage had been broken. He testified that various knives, guns, VCR tapes, clothing, and jewelry had been taken in the burglary. At trial he identified aColt Trooper .357 magnum revolver with afour-inch barrel, Introduced into evidence as State's Exhibit No. 1, as one of the weapons stolen by the burglar. Ralaine Manning catalogued anumber of articles stolen from the home, Including aGE VCR with remote control, ten VCR tapes, compound hunting bow, th1rty-f1ve cassette tapes, and various fInarms. Including the Colt revolver, a Frencia .22 caliber automatic rifle, aMarlin 30-30 rifle, aRemington bolt action .243 rifle, aWinchester MK II 12 gauge automatic shotgun, an H&R 20 gauge single shotgun, and a Mossberg 22 caliber rifle. Jessie Van Horn, a Dallas resident and acquaintance of West, testified for the State that West sold him the .357 Colt Revolver shortly before Thanks- giving in 1986. Neal Morgan, aKaufman County deputy sheriff, testified without objection that West orally informed him that the Colt revolver could be found at the home of Jessie Van Horn in Dallas, and that he went to Van Horn's home and recovered the pistol. West gave awritten statement on November 28, 1986, confessing to the burglary. Omitting the warnings and formal parts, the confession reads as follows:

Mr. Morgan is typing this statement as Itell 1t to him. On November 12, 1986, Willie Baird and Bobby Linley and Iwere in Mahank tfsee my old girlfriend Connie Hartline. About 9:30 a.m. w2 went to a brick house down the road from my girlfriend's house going toward Kaufman and away from Mabank I went through the window on the west side of the garage and took a Remington Bolt Sat! ?243 rifle with ascope, Colt 357 -*£ J"*1* *{] n2 30-30 rifle, with scope, Frencia .22 rifle, Winf^ter-m, u( nannp

W was on parole at the time from the Texas Department of Corrections. 2Produced as a witness by West. recall M. saying anyth1n9 In particular." James, when asked. "Mas he [Morgan] close enough to hear the statement that [West] ...made?," replied. "Yes. ma'am." On cross-examination by the State, James testified, In effect, that he never heard "any law enforcement official ...offer [West] ... any reward, promise, probation, parole, 1n order to obtain astatement from him." On redirect examination, James stated that "1n [his] presence Mr. West made the statement that he had made adeal with Kaufman County that he was only r,n ,„ r, M« oarole revoked." (Emphasis ours.) James also testified that the foregoing statement by West was made In the presence of Morgan. Sheriff Harris, testifying for the State, denied that he ever made any promise of any benefits to West, and specifically denied on cross-examination that he told West "If he cleared up some burglaries or 1f he cleared up his business that [he] would see that [West] would only get his parole revoked." Following the suppression hearing, the trial court signed an order finding beyond areasonable doubt that the confession was voluntarily made by West and thus admissible In evidence. In addition, the court found that no promises had been made to Induce the confession. The evidence before the trial judge was conflicting respecting the voluntariness Issue and In other respects, but the trial judge, as the sole trier of the facts and judge of the credibility of the witnesses, concluded that West's confession was not the product of any Improper promise of favorable treatment. We find that the evidence before the judge supports his ruling. The point 1s overruled. West by his second point claims that the evidence 1s Insufficient to support his conviction. West specifically asserts "that the evidence was I,, urrirlrnt T *ru*"1 »"h the r°urqlary]." (Emphasis ours.) It is true, as West argues, that the only property placed In West's possession3 following the burglary was the .357 magnum Colt Trooper revolver recovered by Deputy Neal Morgan from Van Horn. John Manning did identify the weapon as the one taken in the burglary; however, his identification thereof was not positive. When asked on cross-examination whether he was "absolutely sure" that the pistol recovered from Van Horn and introduced into evidence was Ms pistol, he replied, "[w]ell, I'm almost sure, yes." Standing alone, the testimonies of Van Horn, John and Ralaine Manning, and Neal Morgan regarding the pistol are insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that West burglarized Manning's home on December 12, 1986. Furthermore, we agree that while West's confession, standing alone, likewise would not constitute sufficient evidence to establish West's guilt beyond areasonable doubt, when all of the evidence is considered in a light most favorable to the prosecution, we do conclude that reasonable jurors could have found each essential element of the burglary to be established beyond areasonable doubt. Although the confession does not Identify the burglarized house as belonging to Manning, it does contain admissions of West that he entered a home near Mabank on November 12, 1986, through a"window on the west side of the garage" and stole firearms, including aColt revolver which was taken in the burglary according to the testimony of John and Ralaine Manning. Our analysis of the evidence leads us to conclude that no other reason able hypothesis arises out of that evidence other than the guilt of West. Point two is likewise overruled.

30ther than by West's confession. We turn finally to West's first point of error by which he claims his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments and Tex. Const, art. I, §10, and Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 33.03 (Vernon Supp. 1987)4 were violated when the trial court conducted ahearing on his motion for new trial in his absence.

We first address West's contention that his conviction must be reversed because his motion for new trial was heard, considered and overruled 1n his absence in violation of article 33.03. The record affirmatively shows that West was incarcerated in the Depart ment of Corrections when the motion was filed, heard, and overruled by the trial judge. It is undisputed that West's counsel filed asworn application for the issuance of bench warrant on April 9, 1987, so that West could be brought to the hearing scheduled to be conducted on his motion on April 13, 1987. The bench warrant was not issued. On April 13, 1987, the court called the motion for hearing and conducted the hearing in the absence of West. His counsel objected to proceeding on the motion for new trial in the absence of West and called the court's attention to her application for bench warrant. The trial court denied the application for bench warrant and instructed counsel to proceed. Counsel then argued the motion which was promptly overruled. The sole ground alleged in the motion for new trial was that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's verdict. Therefore, the only evidence relevant for consideration by the trial court in determining that motion was the evidence introduced at trial.

hereinafter referred to as article 33.03, Article 33.03 reads 1n pertinent part: "In all prosecutions for fel onies, the defendant must be personally present at the trial ...." Article 33.03 and its precursors5 have been examined 1n anumber of cases by the 1887 Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals, Including Powers v. State, 23 Tex. Cr. R. 42, 5S.W. 153 (1887); Cartwrioht v. State, 97 Tex. Cr. R. 230, 259 S.W. 1085 (1924); Henderson v. State, 137 Tex. Cr. R. 18, 127 S.W.2d 902 (1939); Phillios v. State, 163 Tex. Cr. R. 13, 288 S.W.2d 775 (1956); Mares^ State, 571 S.W.2d 303 (Tex. Cr. App. 1978); and Cooper v. State, 631 S.W.2d 508 (Tex. Cr. App. 1982). In Powers, 5 S.W. 153, a murder case, the facts were that 1n the defendant's absence a venireman was examined, peremptorily challenged by the State and was excused by the court. In addressing Powers' claim that these facts required reversal of his conviction, Presiding Judge White wrote: Aselection of the jury 1s beyond doubt one[°\^\™s^Zlu +=„+ foatiir** of a trial for a capital felony, and we can wen Sm'eh^lmpomnt Uis ordinarily for adefendant to be presen during such proceedings. But 1n any case, when a rule Is invoked for non-observance, there should at least appear some slight reason 3C ££? ^^XT?^™.^ r^'ceases^oe HSdV^star tKW Injury £,*«£ Under the circumstances disclosed, if error was committed it was manifestly harmless error, for which no just ground of complaint can lie.

Powers, 5 S.W. at 156.

5The 1907 version was article 646, and the 1925 version was article 580. Both of these versus contain the identical language quoted above. In Cartwright v. State, 259 S.W. 1085, asignificant decision, the record reveals that after the state rested in abootleg6 case, the defendant and his counsel retired from the courtroom into an anteroom to discuss the case. The jury was apparently still seated in the jury box. During the defendant's absence, the prosecutor exhibited a"glass jug containing aquantity of the liquor found at [defendant's] still." The jug was earlier Introduced into evidence. Whereupon, several jurors smelled the jug. The court, construing fonner article 646 of "Vernon's Code of Criminal Procedure," concluded that Cartwright sustained "no injury" utilizing the ratio of Judge White in Powers v. state, 5S.W. at 156, quoted above. Cartwright, 259 S.W. at 1086. In Henderson v. State, 127 S.W.2d 902, the defendant was absent when his motion for new trial in amisdemeanor case was heard and overruled by the trial court. The court reversed the judgment, concluding that under former article 5807 "it was error, for the court, in the absence of appellant, to hear, consider and overrule the motion." (Citation omitted.) The Henderson court pretermitted any discussion of the "harmless error- doctrine espoused in Cartwright, but carefully noted that the defendant was charged with misdemeanor theft on December 5, 1938, she was arrested and jailed on the same day, and that on the morning of the following day she was brought before the county court where she pleaded guilty before the judge after waiving ajury trial (presumably without the assistance of counsel). The trial court assessed her punishment at afine and imprisonment in the county

6Illegal manufacture of whiskey. 7. ... -,„ con ™>aH in nart- "In all prosecutions for felonies, the

Imprisonment in Jail .•."" (Emphasis ours.) jail for sixty days. The record shows that following her conviction she employed counsel who filed amotion for new trial, alleging that the guilty plea was coerced by the sheriff. Our reading of Henderson is that the harm to Henderson was obvious. She was prevented from presenting her testimony in support of her allegation that her plea of guilty was coerced. In PMIlios v. State, 288 S.W.2d 775, the court 1n a brief opinion written by Judge Morrison, reversed the defendant's conviction of assault with attempt to rape, tersely stating that the record shows that the defendant "was not present when his motion for new trial was overruled, that he was in jail, and that he did not waive his right [under article 580] to be present." An insight into the significance of Phillips is gained by noting that the court cites Henderson v. State, 127 S.W.2d 902, and as has already been observed in Henderson, the harm or injury to the defendant there was clearly demonstrated by the record. In our view, Phillips and Henderson are "two peas in apod." In any event, the question whether aviolation of an accused's right under article 33.03 to be present at trial requires reversal in the absence of ashowing of harm or prejudice to the defendant, was settled by the Court of Criminal Appeals by its 1978 decision- in Mares v. State, 571 S.W.2d 303. The Mares case, following the lead of Cartwright, held that where adefendant is absent during atrial proceeding, reversal is not required by article 33.03 unless "injury 1s shown to the defendant or [unless] there are facts [shown by the record] from which injury [to the defendant] can be inferred." (Citation omitted.) Mares was reaffirmed in Cooper v. State,8 631 S.W.2d at 511-512.

8Tt u noteworthy that the court in both Mares and Cooper seems to place the burden'ofSTSuSdto establish prejud^Tto his3 cause resulting fnj SI absence in spite of the requirement of article ^'^^ We conclude that West sustained no harm or Injury by the violation of the statute. No evidence was heard by the court; Indeed, no evidence other than that already before the court was admissible under the ground alleged in West's motion. The court under the circumstances here erred in hearing and overruling West's motion for new trial in his absence, but we hold the error to be harmless beyond areasonable doubt. We apply that standard because it appears that Tex. R. App. P. 81(b)(2) is inapplicable to a post-trial proceeding, since under that rule of reversible error in criminal cases the presence of an error requires reversal "unless the appellate court determines beyond a reasonable doubt that, the error mad* no contribution to the conviction or to the punishment." (Emphasis ours.) Errors contemplated by Rule 81(b)(2)9 are errors necessarily committed during the course of the trial itself. West contends that his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments and Tex. Const, art. 1, §10, were violated by the court's action 1n hearing and overruling his motion for new trial in his absence. Under the present circumstances, we hold that West's rights under these state and federal constitutional provisions are not implicated. Mares v. State, 571 S.W.2d 303. However, assuming, without deciding, that the court's action did violate both state and federal constitutional protection afforded West, we conclude that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, r.hapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 (1967).

SSSSSy^lSt!5 Additionally, both decisions seem to confuse the concept Sf-harmless error" as applied by Cartwright with no error. 9As modified by current Tex. Code Crim. Proc.Ann art 44 29 Act of May 26, 1987, ch. 179, § 1, 1987 Tex. Sess. Law Serv. 2711, 2712 tVernon;.

10 West's first point of error 1s overruled The judgment of the trial court is affirmed \ i^iUlUv- PAUL §. COLLfcV Justice

Opinion delivered November 24, 1987.

(PUBLISH)