Winslow v. State

742 S.W.2d 801, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 8958, 1987 WL 20608
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 3, 1987
Docket13-87-175-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 742 S.W.2d 801 (Winslow 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
Winslow v. State, 742 S.W.2d 801, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 8958, 1987 WL 20608 (Tex. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

OPINION

NYE, Chief Justice.

Appellant was charged with the offense of inducing sexual performance of a child by taking suggestive sexual pictures of a child. Texas Penal Code Ann. § 43.25(b) (Vernon Supp.1987). A prior felony offense of forgery was alleged in the indictment for enhancement purposes. The jury found appellant guilty, and the court assessed punishment at thirty years confinement. Appellant alleges error in the admission of prior convictions, certain exhibits and testimony of the child prosecutrix.

The record reflects that one August morning, the Sheriff’s Department of San Patricio County received an anonymous phone call from a woman who claimed that two children were locked outside of their home and left unattended. Approximately fifteen minutes later, a deputy sheriff, Don Barr, arrived at the residence, a trailer house, and found two young girls outside covered in mud. Upon questioning the girls, he learned that they were sisters and that the oldest one was eight years old. The eight year old told him they needed to get into the house because their three month old baby brother was locked inside. She said her mother was at work in Corpus Christi, but she did not know where her mother worked. She also did not know where her stepfather was. After Officer *803 Barr found the front and back doors locked, he asked the eight year old if there was another way to get in. She said a window was unlocked and that it was okay for him to go in the house through this window. Officer Barr entered the trailer house through the window and let the children in. Then the eight year old led Officer Barr to a bedroom to check on the infant. The infant was lying in a bassinet, wearing only a soiled diaper. He was crying and had mosquito bites all over his body. In response to a radio request by Officer Barr, he was told that a woman with the Department of Human Resources, Julie Durham, was en route to the trailer home. While the officer waited for Ms. Durham, he continued to watch over the children and to attempt to find out more information from them concerning the whereabouts of their parents.

When Durham arrived, Officer Barr showed her the baby. Ms. Durham cleaned the baby and tried to quiet him down. Then Ms. Durham made some phone calls to try to locate a proper person to take custody of the children. The eight year old helped Officer Barr find some clean clothes for the infant. She also told him there was some medicine they had been putting on the infant for the bug bites. The eight year old led him to a bedside table and showed him the medicine. Officer Barr testified that on the same bedside table he saw photographs (identified as exhibits 1, 2, & 3) of the eight year old girl in sexually suggestive poses exposing her genitalia. He picked up the pictures and took possession of them. He also saw a .357 magnum pistol. Officer Barr picked up the gun, unloaded it, and put it in a safer place.

By point of error number one, appellant contends that the trial court erroneously permitted the prosecutor to cross-examine him concerning two prior convictions during the guilt stage of the trial.

During cross-examination, the prosecutor told the court he was about to bring up two prior felony convictions of appellant. Appellant’s attorney objected, “Judge, I of course would object to it. These two convictions, my understanding, are for enhancement purposes.” After the judge was satisfied that both the convictions were final prior to this incident, he overruled the objection. No other objections were made. The prosecutor then asked appellant if he was the same John Winslow who was convicted of the offense of burglary with intent to commit theft and the offense of forgery. The witness answered that he was.

Appellant asserts here that the pri- or convictions were not admissible during the guilt stage of the trial because one of the offenses was alleged in the indictment for enhancement purposes. Appellant relies on Tex.Code Crim.Proe.Ann. art. 36.01 (Vernon 1974), which provides: “When pri- or convictions are alleged for purposes of enhancement only and are not jurisdictional, that portion of the indictment or information reciting such convictions shall not be read until the hearing on punishment is held.” Article 36.01 does not preclude the State from impeaching an accused who testifies, by proof that he has previously been convicted. See Bell v. State, 641 S.W.2d 377 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1982, pet. ref’d). The purpose of article 36.01 is to prevent prejudice which would result from an announcement at the outset of the proceedings that the State believes the defendant has been previously convicted. Frausto v. State, 642 S.W.2d 506, 508 (Tex.Crim.App. 1982). At the beginning of the trial, when the indictment was read, the prosecutor did refrain from reading the prior conviction alleged in the indictment. The introduction of the prior convictions here complained of occurred during the cross-examination of the defendant. Cross-examination of the defendant is not the functional equivalent of reading the indictment to the jury at the introduction of the case; therefore, article 36.01 is not applicable.

Appellant also asserts that the trial court should not have permitted the prior convictions because they were too remote in time. However, defendant’s only objection before the trial court was that the convictions were for enhancement purposes. Prior to trial, during a hearing outside the presence of the jury, the trial court asked the appel *804 lant’s attorney if he needed a ruling on the motion in limine that he filed. Appellant’s counsel said, “The only thing — I'm sure he’s not going to do it, I want to make sure he doesn’t come up with this enhancement provision.” The prosecutor agreed, “that will not be read in the indictment.” The judge asked if they were “squared away on that” and each side indicated — they were. The motion in limine was not signed by the judge.

The objection at trial merely stated that the convictions were for enhancement purposes. When an objection in the trial court differs from the complaint on appeal, a defendant has not preserved error for appeal. Burdine v. State, 719 S.W.2d 309, 319 (Tex.Crim.App.1986), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 1590, 94 L.Ed.2d 779 (1987). Appellant’s objection was insufficient to provide the trial judge and the prosecutor with notice that defendant was in fact complaining that the prior convictions were too remote. Appellant’s first point of error is overruled.

Appellant’s second point of error complains that the photographs were seized without a search warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, section 9 of the Texas Constitution.

The State contends that appellant failed to preserve the asserted error for review. During trial when the photographs were offered into evidence, appellant’s counsel renewed his pretrial objection by saying, “Defense has no objection other than the prior motion that has been filed.” At the pretrial hearing on the motion to suppress the photographs, appellant’s counsel attacked the admissibility of the photographs on the same grounds as those urged on appeal.

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Bluebook (online)
742 S.W.2d 801, 1987 Tex. App. LEXIS 8958, 1987 WL 20608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winslow-v-state-texapp-1987.