Lead Opinion
OPINION ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
delivered the opinion of the Court in which
This case presents the question of whether' a trial court has the power to rescind an order granting a new tidal. Past cases have held that the trial court does not have that power. In its petition for discretionary review, the State contends that those cases should be overruled and that this Court should recognize a trial court’s power to rescind the granting of a new trial. We agree.
I.
Appellant pleaded not guilty to the indictment and waived his right to a jury trial. On December 21, 1994, after a bench trial, the trial court found appellant guilty of the charged offense. The case was passed for punishment. On March 20, 1995, the sentencing hearing was held, and the trial court assessed an eight-year probated term and a $1,000 fine. On the same day, the trial court granted appellant’s motion for new trial. Later, however, the trial court crossed out the signature on the order granting the motion and added the notation, “No action taken on this order.”
On April 18, the trial court conducted a hearing on the motion for new trial. At this hearing, the trial court explained that it had granted the motion for new trial pursuant to an agreement from appellant that appellant would plead guilty and receive deferred adjudication and that the trial court crossed out
I sentenced you to eight years regular probation. Thereafter, you and your attorney came before me the same day and asking me, if you changed your plea, whether or not I would consider giving you deferred. After some discussion, you presented me the motion for new trial and I did sign that on the condition that y’all were going to go before the magistrate’s court and enter a plea of guilty, at which time I had gone ahead and okayed the fact that you would, I had authorized the magistrate to enter a plea of eight years deferred... .Thereafter, I understand y’all did not go before the magistrate. At that point I rescinded my order granting the motion for new trial. And that was the reason I rescinded. The only reason I granted or signed the motion that day was to facilitate you changing your plea and going to the magistrate and entering a plea of guilty, which you did not do. Therefore, I rescinded the order on the motion for new trial and let it stand in the same place as of the time I sentenced you to eight years probation.
Relying upon Matthews v. State,
II.
In Matthews, the trial court set aside an order granting a motion for new trial because the order “was made under a misapрrehension of the evidence complained of.”
The cases that followed did not elaborate on Matthews ’ reasoning. In two old cases, we relied upon Matthews, without further comment, to overturn attempts to rescind the granting of a new trial. Jones v. State,
Subsequently, in Ex Parte Drewery,
We again made statements upholding the validity of the Matthews doctrine in Moore v. State,
Several years later, the Matthews’ doctrine came under fire in Rodriguez v. State,
We criticized Matthews for failing to cite any authority in support of its holding. Rodriguez,
Subsequent to Rodriguez, we commented, in passing, that “absent clerical errors a trial court cannot alter orders granting a new trial outside the time of its plenary power” and that “any attempts to rescind” an order granting a new trial “based upon judicial reasoning” must fail. State v. Bates, 889
III.
We should not overrule precedent lightly. When conducting a reexamination of precedent, “we should take into account the interests underlying the rule of stare decisis: Often it is better to be consistent than right.” Malik v. State,
From the beginning the Matthews rule has been a rule without much basis. The only clearly articulated justification for the rule (given in Drewery, although perhaps implicit in Matthews) is that granting a new trial restores the case to its pretrial status and that, after such restoration, there is no conviction to reinstate. However, the language of the appellate rule concerning the effect of granting a new trial may simply bе designed to inform the parties of the sequence of proceedings to follow and to prevent a jury from being influenced by knowledge of the prior proceedings. Several other jurisdictions with similar statutory language have taken this view. The Supreme Court of Indiana held that a statute of similar wording
was intended as protection to the accused. By this provision, the legal presumption of innocence could not be overcome or weakеned by the knowledge that there had been a verdict against him.
Hefton v. State,
The purpose of the provision was, specifically, to forestall abatement of the second triаl on a plea of former jeopardy, and generally, to render inoperative for any purpose anything done or occurring at the first trial. The provision has no reference to the power of the court during the term over the work of the term, and contemplates those orders granting new trials which ultimately become final orders on the subject.
State v. Luft,
We are mindful of the maxim that we presume the Legislature intends the same construction to continue to apply to a statute when the Legislature meets without overturning that construction. State v. Hardy,
The case at hand is a good example of the adverse consequences that can flow from the Matthews rule: the rule hampers the ability of the parties and the trial court to make plea arrangements. If the rule is upheld in this case, trial courts will be reluctant to consider post-judgment agreements, even where they seem appropriate, because such agreements could not be enforced. While the flexibility to revise a plea after judgment may not seem as significant as many other issues that arise in thе criminal justice system, reducing that flexibility seems plainly unnecessary in the absence of any persuasive justification for according finality to the granting of a motion for new trial.
Stare decisis might nevertheless support an unnecessary rule where it has been consistently applied. But in the present case, several inconsistencies exist. First, the Matthews court conceded that the power to reconsider the overruling of a motion for new trial might also indicаte a power to reconsider the granting of such a motion. But that court apparently overlooked Gonzales v. State,
Moreover, the Matthews rule creates a split between criminal and civil jurisprudence without a good reason for doing so. Even in Matthews, we recognized that our holding diverged from civil practice. Further, the Texas Supreme Court has recently recognized that, under the Rules of Civil Procedure, a trial court may vacate the granting of a new trial sо long as such action occurs within the 75 day period that a trial court has before a motion for new trial is overruled by operation of law. Fruehauf Corp. v. Carrillo,
Denying the trial court the authority to reconsider its own order for new trial during the 75-day period needlessly restricts the trial court, creates unnecessary litigation, and is inconsistent with the notion оf inherent plenary power vested in the trial courts.
Id. Further, the rules regarding the time limits for new trial motions are very similar in both the criminal and civil systems. The civil rules provide:
In the event an original or amended motion for new trial or a motion to modify, correct or reform a judgment is not determined by written order signed within seventy-five days after the judgment was signed, it shall be considered overruled by operation of law on expiration of that period.
Tex.R. Civ. P. 329b(c). The criminal provision is similar:
(1) Time to Rule. The court shall determine a motion for new trial within 75 daysafter date sentence is imposed or suspended in open court.
(3) Failure to Rule. A motion not timely determined by written order signed by the judge shall be considered overruled by operation of law upon expiration of the period of time prescribed in section (e)(1) of this rule.
Former Tex.R.App. P. 31(e).
Finally, we point out that, when Matthews was decided, the weight of authority appeared to argue against a trial court’s ability to rescind the granting of a new trial. This observation was made in the Matthews opinion. But, today the weight of authority appears to run in the other direction. Most jurisdictions addressing the issue expressly allow a trial court to rescind the granting of a new trial — at least if the trial court acts in a timely fashion. See People v. Weller,
A few jurisdictions conclude that the trial court generally has no authority to rescind a motion for new trial that has been granted. The Delaware Supreme Court has held that the trial court has no such authority unless the new trial was ordered mistakenly or inadvertently. State v. Naylor,
Hence, we conclude that the Matthews rule, having always rеsted on questionable foundations, is no longer viable, especially in light of our holding in Rodriguez. Nevertheless, our review of the issue, our appellate rules, the Texas Supreme Court’s pronouncement, and the authority in other jurisdictions leads us to conclude that a time limitation must exist on the power to rescind a new trial order. The appellate rules give a trial court 75 days after judgment is imposed or suspended in open court to rule upon a motion fоr new trial. We hold that an order granting or denying a motion for new trial may be freely rescinded so long as such action occurs within the 75 days provided by the rules (i.e., current Rule 21.8(a) & (c)); to the extent that Matthews and its progeny were held to apply during this time period, they are overruled. However, after the 75 day period expires, an order granting or denying a new trial becomes “final,” and Matthews and its progeny control.
In the present case, the trial court rescinded its order granting a new trial within the 75 day time period provided by the appellate rules. Hence, that court was acting within its power in doing so.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
Notes
. Included among the provisions cited was a provision concerning the effect of granting a motion for new trial: "The effect of a new trial is to place the cause in the same position in which it was before any trial had taken place.” Id. Wе accorded no special significance to this provision apart from the other statutory provisions cited.
. The new trial was granted on January 12, 1983, and the trial court attempted to rescind that order on May 5. Id. at 534. The trial court's reason for rescinding the order was that it did not have jurisdiction- to grant the new trial. Id. We held that the trial court did in fact have jurisdiction. See Id. at 534-537.
. Former Tex.R.App. P. 32 (1995), in effect at the time appellant was granted a new trial, provided:
Granting a new trial restores the case to its positiоn before the former trial including, at the option of either party, arraignment or pretrial proceedings initiated by that party; The prior conviction shall not be regarded as a presumption of guilt, nor shall it be alluded to in argument or in presence of jury.
This provision is now found at current Rule 21.9 with minor, nonsubstantive revisions.
. The current provision is Rule 21.8, which is the same except for some minor, nonsubstantive changes.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
I agree with the majority that a trial court may rescind its order granting a new trial. But while the majority gives numerous policy reasons in support of such action, they never explore what I view as the only important legal question here — where does a trial court derive its authority to so act?
In Garcia v. Dial,
Unless the power or authority of a court to perform a contemplated act can be found in the Constitution оr laws enacted thereunder, it is without jurisdiction and its acts without validity.
But this is surely too narrow a view as it would be seem to require that lawmakers contemplate every permissible action a trial court may take and specifically provide for it. We have since recognized that, in addition to express grants of power conferred by constitution, statute, or common law, courts have inherent and implied powers which provide a much broader foundation upon which to act. State v. Johnson,
The majority relies heavily on Rodriguez v. State,
And this is the ease regardless of whether a trial court has granted a motion for new trial or denied it. Nothing in the Court’s holding should be taken as suggesting it is limited to a trial court’s reconsideration of its granting of a new trial. The ability to reconsider its ruling is limited, however, by the court’s retention of jurisdiction or statutory authority over the matter. As recognized by the majority, the court’s authority to rescind its order expires upon the 75 days provided for by the rules. Tex.R.App. PROC. 21.8 (trial court must rule on motion for new trial within 75 days after imposing or suspending sentence). In addition, a court’s jurisdiction may, before the expiration of the 75 days, be severed by the filing of an appeal of one of the parties. Tex.R.App. Proc. 26.2 (defendant has 90 days to appeal; State has 15 days to perfect appeal). For instance, if the trial court grants a defendant’s motion for new trial and the State timely appeals that order within 15 days, Tex.Code GRIM. PROC. 44.01(a)(3), the trial court has lost its jurisdiction over the cause and has no authority to change its ruling.
With these comments, I concur.
BAIRD, J., joins.
. In Garcia, the trial court dismissed the indictment pursuant to the Speedy Trial Act, then later reinstated the cause. We held that upon the dismissal of the indictment, the trial court lost jurisdiction and thus had no authority to reinstate the cause, citing Matthews v. State,
