Wolfe v. State

120 S.W.3d 368, 2003 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 826, 2003 WL 22682274
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 12, 2003
Docket74522
StatusPublished
Cited by77 cases

This text of 120 S.W.3d 368 (Wolfe 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
Wolfe v. State, 120 S.W.3d 368, 2003 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 826, 2003 WL 22682274 (Tex. 2003).

Opinions

OPINION

MEYERS, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court

in which KELLER, P.J., and PRICE, JOHNSON, HOLCOMB, and COCHRAN, J.J.,

joined.

Appellant Bryan Eric Wolfe was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. We affirmed the conviction and sentence on March 6, 1996. Appellant subsequently moved for post-conviction forensics testing pursuant to Chapter 64 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure and requested money for appointment of an independent expert to review both the trial DNA test results and the post-conviction DNA test results. The convicting court granted the motion for post-conviction DNA testing, but denied appellant’s request to be appointed an independent expert. Appellant appeals solely on the basis that he is entitled to have an independent expert appointed to review both sets of DNA test results for him.

Facts

In 1992, an 84-year-old woman was found stabbed to death in her home. Using the R.F.L.P. DNA testing method, Cellmark Diagnostics1 ran DNA tests on a bloody towel found in the victim’s home and on scrapings found outside the victim’s front door. Cellmark then compared those test results to the banding patterns found in DNA samples from appellant, an African-American. The banding patterns from the bloody towel matched appellant’s DNA and showed that the odds of another African-American having the same banding patterns were 1 in 1.17 million. The banding patterns from the scrapings on the door showed a 1 in 16 million likelihood that another African-American would match the same DNA pattern. Appellant was convicted, and later requested additional DNA testing under Chapter 64. The trial judge ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) to conduct DNA tests using the newer PCR/STR2 method. Appellant made no objection to the selection of the DPS as the testing [370]*370laboratory. The results of the new tests also matched appellant’s DNA. The tests on samples from the bathroom floor, bathtub, and a bedroom towel indicated that the odds of another African-American matching the DNA pattern were 1 in 1.2 quintillion. The samples from the doorknob scrapings, the bathroom counter, and a bathroom towel, resulted in odds of another match at 1 in 415 trillion African-Americans. And the DNA samples from a black coin purse found on the victim resulted in odds of 1 in 1.2 quintillion.

Appellant alleges there is a conflict between the pre-trial DNA test results and the post-conviction DNA test results, and that neither he nor his attorney is capable of understanding the results without expert assistance. Appellant argues that he must be appointed an independent DNA expert to review the results and explain them to his attorney. Without the right to expert assistance, appellant urges that he is being denied his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel, as well as being denied the proper tools to attack the evidence against him. The State, however, asserts that no conflict exists between the two sets of test results. Rather, the State insists that the post-conviction test results more conclusively link appellant to the crime. Furthermore, the State contends that appellant is making a collateral attack not authorized under Chapter 64 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

Issue

The issue presented by appellant is whether the district court erred in denying appellant expert assistance with regard to its Chapter 64 hearing. In order to answer this question, we must first determine whether, under Chapter 64 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, an indigent defendant can appeal a decision by the convicting court denying him an independent expert, or whether such an action is merely a collateral attack for which no appeal is authorized. We agree with the State that appellant’s attack is collateral and thus not within the scope of appeal as laid out by Article3 64.05 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

Legislative History

Whenever possible, this Court interprets a statute pursuant to its “plain [textual] meaning” and will not consult outside sources unless the statute is ambiguous or unless its literal translation will result in “absurd consequences.” Boykin v. State, 818 S.W.2d 782, 785 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). Our overall goal is, of course, to carry out the legislative intent. Id. at 785; Kutzner v. State, 75 S.W.3d 427, 433 (Tex.Crim.App.2002). Article 64.05 is unambiguous on its face.4 However, because our primary goal is to carry out the legislative intent of the statute, we provide the legislative history of Chapter 64 in order to highlight the harmony between the legislative intent and our holding today.

Article 64.05 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure sets out the appeal process under Chapter 64. Tex.Code CRiM. Peoc. Ann. art. 64.05 (Vernon Supp. 2003). At the time of appellant’s motion, Article 64.05 read in pertinent part that “[a]n appeal of a finding under Article 61.03 or 61.01 is to a court of appeals, except that if the convicted person was convicted in a capital case, the appeal of the finding is a direct appeal to the court of criminal appeals.” Id. (emphasis added). In a recent case, this Court noted that, “[a]lthough Article 64.05 provides for [371]*371appealing a finding under Articles 64.03 or 64.04, there are no provisions for appealing a finding regarding indigence or appointment of counsel under [Article] 64.01(c).” Neveu v. Culver, 105 S.W.3d 641, 643 (Tex.Crim.App.2003). In Kutzner v. State, this Court observed that Senate Bill 3 (now codified as Chapter 64) as originally drafted did not authorize an appeal of any of the trial judge’s Chapter 64 determinations. Tex. S.B. 3, 77th Leg., R.S., 2001 Tex. Gen. Laws 2; Kutzner, 75 S.W.3d at 433. Later, by amendment, the Senate Jurisprudence Committee added wording to allow appeal of a finding under Article 64.04. See Senate JURISPRUDENCE Comm., Bill Analysis, Tex. S.B. 3 at 3-4, 77th Leg., R.S., (February 13, 2001). The language authorizing appeal of findings under Article 64.03 was not added until even later, by an additional amendment. See House Criminal JURISPRUDENCE Committee, Bill Analysis, Tex. S.B. 3 at 3, 77th Leg., R.S., (March 4, 2001); see also Kutzner at 434. In Kutzner, this Court acknowledged that, before specifically adding the provision for appeals as to Article 64.03, Article 64.05 necessarily restricted appeals solely to those matters falling under Article 64.04. Kutzner, 75 S.W.3d at 434. We adopt that position today. Because it was necessary for the legislature to add specific language to authorize an appeal of determinations under Articles 64.03 and 64.04, and because the legislature did not designate any other sections in Article 64.05, the legislative intent is in harmony with the plain language of the statute; the statute does not authorize an appeal of findings under any articles other than 64.03 and 64.04. The question thus becomes whether the decision by the trial court denying appellant a post-conviction DNA expert falls under the scope of Articles 64.03 or 64.04. We believe it does not.

Discussion

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Bluebook (online)
120 S.W.3d 368, 2003 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 826, 2003 WL 22682274, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolfe-v-state-texcrimapp-2003.