Woods v. State

532 S.W.2d 608, 1976 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 859
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas·Decided February 4, 1976·No. 51004 to 51006, 51214, 51215 and 51469·Published·Cited by 50 cases

Opinion

OPINION

ROBERTS, Judge.

These cases present important questions concerning our appellate jurisdiction to entertain them. Specifically, the question is whether the sentence, 1 as defined by Art. 42.02, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P., 2 in each of the cases was untimely and improperly pronounced.

In cause numbers 51,004, 51,005 and 51,-006, Woods waived trial by jury and entered pleas of guilty before the court to three indictments, each charging him with burglary of a habitation. The pleas were taken, Woods was convicted, and the court assessed punishment at seven years’ confinement in each case on December 11, 1974. Because of an application for probation, a pre-sentence investigation was ordered. On January 2, 1975, the court denied probation and immediately pronounced sentence in each case. The records are silent, however, as to any waiver of the time to file a motion for new trial or motion in arrest of judgment after probation was denied.

In cause number 51,214, Rodriguez waived trial by jury and entered a plea of guilty before the court to an indictment charging him with possessing more than four ounces of marihuana. The plea was taken, Rodriguez was convicted, and the court assessed punishment at five years’ confinement on December 5,1974. Because of an application for probation, a pre-sen-tence investigation was ordered. On January 10,1975, the court denied probation and immediately pronounced sentence. The record is silent, however, as to a waiver of the time to file a motion for new trial or a motion in arrest of judgment after probation was denied. In fact, the contrary ap *610 pears because Rodriguez’s counsel asked the court if he could have the ten days immediately after sentence was pronounced. The court replied:

“No, sir; you can file a motion for new trial. I will give you ten days to file a motion for new trial, . .”

However, the January 10 sentence was not set aside or sentence repronounced after the expiration of the statutory time.

In cause number 51,215, Kuncas waived trial by jury and entered a plea of guilty to an indictment charging him with delivering marihuana with remuneration. The plea was taken, Kuncas was convicted, and the court assessed punishment at five years’ confinement on March 31,1975. Because of an application for probation, a pre-sentence investigation was ordered. On May 1,1975, the court denied probation, reduced the punishment from five years’ to three years’ confinement, and immediately pronounced sentence. The record is silent, however, as to any waiver of the time in which to file a motion for new trial or a motion in arrest of judgment after probation was denied. In fact, on May 9,1975, and within ten days from the time probation was denied, Kun-cas filed a motion to reconsider his application for probation and a motion for new trial. No action appears to have been taken on the motion for new trial; however, the trial court denied Kuncas’ motion for reconsideration of probation. The May 1 sentence was not set aside or a new sentence pronounced after the expiration of the statutory time.

In 51,469, Pena waived trial by jury and entered a plea of guilty before the court to an indictment charging him with burglary of a vehicle. The plea was taken, Pena was convicted, and the court assessed punishment at three years’ confinement. Because of an application for probation, a pre-sen-tence investigation was ordered. On April 10, 1975, the court denied probation and immediately pronounced sentence. The record is silent, however, as to any waiver of the time in which to file a motion for new trial or motion in arrest of judgment after probation was denied. In fact, the record reflects that after probation was denied and prior to pronouncement of sentence Pena requested ten days to file a motion for new trial. The trial judge answered that the time to file a motion for new trial had expired.

A sentence, as defined by Art. 42.-02, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.C.P., is required to be pronounced in all cases before an appeal is taken, except in death penalty eases and in probation cases where imposition of sentence is suspended. Art. 42.04, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P. In all cases where a sentence is required to be pronounced before an appeal is taken, such sentence must be included in the record on appeal. Art. 40.09, Sec. 1, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P. Numerous appeals of this nature have been dismissed where the required sentence did not appear in the record. See, e. g., Black v. State, 473 S.W.2d 469 (Tex.Cr.App.1971); Clemons v. State, 414 S.W.2d 940 (Tex.Cr.App.1967); Herbort v. State, 422 S.W.2d 456 (Tex.Cr.App.1967); Baker v. State, 491 S.W.2d 887 (Tex.Cr.App.1973); cf. Casias v. State, 503 S.W.2d 262 (Tex.Cr.App.1973). Likewise, it has been held that, in cases where sentence is required, a sentence which has been improperly and untimely pronounced requires dismissal of the appeal. Bedell v. State, 443 S.W.2d 850 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Adams v. State, 440 S.W.2d 844 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Payne v. State, 471 S.W.2d 815 (Tex.Cr.App.1971); Matheson v. State, 492 S.W.2d 273 (Tex.Cr.App.1973).

Article 42.03, Vernon’s Ann.C.C.P., governs the time for pronouncing sentence. It provides that, in cases where sentence is required under Art. 42.02, supra, the sentence shall be pronounced at any time after the expiration of the time allowed for making the motion for a new trial or the motion in arrest of judgment. Numerous appeals have been dismissed because sentence was pronounced prior to the expiration of the time provided in Art. 42.03, supra. These include Pool v. State, 429 S.W.2d 158 (Tex. *611 Cr.App.1968) Watson v. State, 429 S.W.2d 890 (Tex.Cr.App.1968); Tapp v. State, 432 S.W.2d 102 (Tex.Cr.App.1968); Adams v. State, 440 S.W.2d 844 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Gonzales v. State, 440 S.W.2d 847 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); McDonald v. State, 442 S.W.2d 352 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Clark v. State, 442 S.W.2d 353 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Posas v. State,

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Woods v. State, 532 S.W.2d 608, 1976 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 859 (Tex. 1976).

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