William Charles Cooper v. State

• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Decided: September 16, 2004
• Docket: 11-03-00197-CR
• Status: Published

Opinion

                                                             11th Court of Appeals

                                                                  Eastland, Texas

                                                                        Opinion

William Charles Cooper

Appellant

Vs.                   No. 11-03-00197-CR -- Appeal from Harris County

State of Texas

Appellee

William Charles Cooper appeals his conviction by a jury of the offense of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft.  The jury assessed his punishment at 45 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division.  We affirm.

Appellant contends in a single point of error that the trial court erred by allowing the jury to assess his punishment because he did not personally sign the form electing the jury to assess punishment.  Appellant=s attorney signed the jury election form on appellant=s behalf when appellant refused to sign the form because, Ahe=s taking the Fifth on his signature, whatever that means.@  Appellant never objected to the jury assessing punishment.  Consequently, if there were any error in having the jury assess his punishment, appellant waived the error by failing to make such an objection.  Fontenot v. State, 500 S.W.2d 843, 844 (Tex.Cr.App.1973).  We overrule appellant=s sole point of error.

The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.

PER CURIAM

September 16, 2004

Do not publish.  See TEX.R.APP.P. 47.2(b).

Panel consists of: Arnot, C.J., and

Wright, J., and Hill, S.J.^[1]

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^[1]John G. Hill, Former Chief Justice, Court of Appeals, 2nd District of Texas at Fort Worth sitting by assignment.