Johnny JAMES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
No. 69653.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, En Banc.
April 26, 1989.
Rehearing Denied June 7, 1989.
No. 69653.
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, En Banc.
April 26, 1989.
Rehearing Denied June 7, 1989.
Michael R. Little, Dist. Atty., and Georgia L. Clapper, Asst. Dist. Atty., Anahuac,
OPINION
CAMPBELL, Judge.
Appeal is taken from a conviction for capital murder.
The appellant was convicted of intentionally causing the death of Barbara Harrington Mayfield in the course of committing and attempting to commit the aggravated sexual assault of A.H. Appellant raises sixteen points of error.1 We will affirm appellant‘s conviction.
In his first point of error, appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury‘s affirmative answer to the second special issue.
On October 21, 1985, appellant left his home in Winnie, Texas to go to Gilchrist, Texas. Appellant was armed with a .38 caliber Rossi revolver and indicated in a signed statement that he had been drinking heavily all day. At approximately 10:00 P.M., appellant left B.J.‘s Lounge in High Island, Texas with the bar‘s proprietor, Barbara Mayfield. In his signed statement, appellant said that he was “messing around” with the gun and accidentally shot the floor board of the car, learning afterwards that he had inadvertently shot Mayfield in the foot. The physical evidence contradicted appellant‘s version of the facts.2 At some point after this shooting, appellant gave Mayfield a bed sheet to wrap around her foot and put her into the trunk of his car.
At approximately 1:00 A.M. on October 22, appellant drove into the parking lot of a convenience store in Winnie, Texas. He entered the store, looked around, and pulled a gun from a bag. Appellant pointed the gun at A.H.‘s face. Appellant told A H, the clerk, to give him all of the money and handed her the bag, and she put the money into the bag. Appellant, still pointing the gun at her, told A H to get into the car. When they were in the car, appellant told A H to do as he said or she would end up “like the other one.” When appellant made this threat, he pointed to a pool of blood on the floor in front of the passenger‘s seat.
The two drove to the “Hebert Road,” which is an isolated, rural road outside of Winnie. Appellant stopped the car and told A H to drive, but she told appellant that she couldn‘t drive a car with a standard transmission. Appellant and A H went to the back of the car. Appellant gave A H the keys and told her to open the trunk. A H tried to open the trunk, but she was nervous and dropped the keys. Appellant picked up the keys and opened the trunk, revealing Mayfield‘s presence to A H for the first time. A H helped Mayfield out of
Appellant instructed the two women to get into the back seat of the car. Pointing the gun at them, he told the women to take off their clothes. This done, he said that “he had never seen two ladies make out” and told the women to rub their hands on each others’ breasts. After doing this for a while, appellant told the women to put their hands between each others’ legs. The women complied, but appellant said “he didn‘t see the hands moving fast enough.” A H testified that they had done this for about twenty to thirty minutes when appellant told her to suck on Mayfield‘s breast. The women did as appellant instructed until he told them to stop and then got into the back seat with them. Appellant said, “I‘ve never had a black woman before,” and then forced A H‘s mouth onto his penis while holding the gun in his right hand at the back of her head and said, “Suck on this.” Appellant told A H, “You can do better than that.” After a period of time, appellant told A H to stop and then told her to get on top of him and to place his penis in her vagina. He then told A H to move up and down. After ejaculating, appellant told A H to stop. During all of this, Mayfield was huddled there, in the back seat, crying.
Appellant then told everyone to get out of the car. The women put their clothes back on. While A H was tying her shoe, she heard Mayfield shout, “Please, don‘t do it. Oh my God, don‘t do it.” A H looked back, over her shoulder, and saw appellant aim his gun at her. She raised her arms to cover her head and appellant fired. A H felt that she had been shot and fell to the ground. She decided to play dead hoping appellant would leave her alone. A H then lost consciousness until she was roused by her brother, who was part of a search party organized after it was discovered that she was missing from the convenience store.
According to his own statement, appellant next turned his gun against Mayfield. Medical evidence indicated that Mayfield had been shot twice in the head at very close range. A H was then shot twice more. Appellant‘s statement said that he then drove back to his home, stopping on the way to dispose of his gun and count the money he took in the robbery. Upon arriving, he told his wife that he had been out hunting and that he had sold his gun for $100.3
During the punishment phase of trial the State introduced psychological evidence, reputation evidence, prior bad acts, and appellant‘s criminal record. Dr. James Grigson testified that, based on a hypothetical question, appellant was a sociopath and that it was a 100% certainty that he would commit acts of violence in the future.4 A
Appellant cites a number of cases in which this Court has found that the evidence was insufficient to support an affirmative answer to the second special issue, and argues that these cases are similar to his. Keeton v. State, 724 S.W.2d 58 (Tex.Cr.App.1987); Garcia v. State, 626 S.W.2d 46 (Tex.Cr.App.1981); Wallace v. State, 618 S.W.2d 67 (Tex.Cr.App.1981); Roney v. State, 632 S.W.2d 598 (Tex.Cr.App.1982); Warren v. State, 562 S.W.2d 474 (Tex.Cr.App.1978). Without individually detailing and distinguishing the facts of the cases cited by appellant, we find that there is more evidence tending to show that appellant will continue to be a threat to society than in any of these cases.
When deciding whether there was sufficient evidence to support a jury‘s finding that a defendant will constitute a continuing threat of violence to society, this Court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether a rational trier of fact could have found the elements of
The facts of this crime are heinous and exhibit a brutal disregard for fundamental human dignity and life. In a period of several hours, appellant committed two kidnappings, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated robbery, capital murder, and attempted capital murder. In addition to this impressive array of crimes, appellant compounded his inhumanity by the manner in which he terrorized his two victims. The deceased, Barbara Mayfield, was locked in the trunk of appellant‘s car, left frightened and bleeding with a painful, but not fatal, gunshot wound. Ms. Mayfield and A.H. were both forced to suffer the indignity of being forced to disrobe, at gun point, and perform homosexual acts upon a stranger. “As this Court has previously stated, the circumstances of the capital offense itself, if severe enough, can be sufficient to sustain an affirmative finding to the second special issue.” O‘Bryan v. State, 591 S.W.2d 464, 480 (Tex.Cr.App.1979). We find these facts to be so shocking that a rational trier of fact could have answered “yes” to the second special issue based solely on the facts of appellant‘s offense.
Psychiatric predictions may constitute a basis for finding a defendant to be a continuing threat to society. Cockrum v. State, 758 S.W.2d 577, 593 (Tex.Cr.App.1988). A rational trier of fact could have believed Dr. Grigson‘s testimony that appellant was certain to constitute a continuing threat to society and answered “yes” based on this testimony.
Reputation evidence may be probative of future dangerousness. Cockrum, supra at 593; Rougeau v. State, 738 S.W.2d 651, 668 (Tex.Cr.App.1987). Here,
Prior criminal record may serve as a basis for adjudging a defendant to be a future danger to society. Keeton, supra at 61; Brasfield v. State, 600 S.W.2d 288, 293 n. 3 (Tex.Cr.App.1980). Appellant was convicted of driving while intoxicated and burglary of a habitation. Appellant argues that none of these convictions implicate acts of violence. A similar contention was rejected in Cockrum, supra, concerning attempted burglary of a habitation.
Burglary provides an inherent potential to escalate into violence, and ... attempted burglary of a habitation, provides a particularly high potential for violence. The legislature has acknowledged the reality of this threat by grouping burglary of a habitation with burglary while armed with a deadly weapon and causing injury to a person while in the course of committing burglary as aggravating elements.
V.T.C.A. Penal Code, § 30.02(d) . A rational jury could well interpret these prior offenses as inherently dangerous practices, fraught with potentially life-threatening possibilities.
Id. at 593 (footnote omitted). Thus, appellant‘s burglary conviction could have contributed to the jury‘s affirmative answer to the second special issue.
We find that the evidence was sufficient to support the jury‘s finding on the second special issue. Appellant‘s first point of error is overruled.
In his thirteenth point of error, appellant argues that “the Texas death penalty statute is unconstitutional because it allows execution for crimes committed before the offender was eighteen years old in violation of international law which is superior to state law under
[W]hen challenging the constitutionality of a statue, it is incumbent upon the defendant to show that in its operation the statute is unconstitutional as to him in his situation; that it may be unconstitutional as to others is not sufficient.
Parent v. State, 621 S.W.2d 796, 797 (Tex.Cr.App.1981) (citations omitted). The record reflects that appellant was approximately 31 years old when this offense was committed. Thus, the alleged constitutional infirmity of which appellant complains does not apply to him. Appellant‘s thirteenth point of error is overruled.
In his fourteenth point of error, appellant argues that
The State‘s contention that we need not address the substance of appellant‘s point of error is without merit. Vasquez v. State, 665 S.W.2d 484 (Tex.Cr.App.1984), cited by the State for this proposition, merely holds that if the evidence is sufficient to support a conviction under one theory of a jury charge, this Court need not
A statutory distinction between two classes of people will survive a challenge under the equal protection clause if the statutory scheme serves a legitimate state interest. J. Nowak, R. Rotunda, & J. Young, Constitutional Law 585-86 (1983). The importance of the state interest and the degree to which the statutory scheme must be tailored to serve that interest is dependent upon the class distinction drawn and the nature of the individual rights implicated. If the classification is “suspect,” courts must review the statutory scheme with “strict scrutiny,” satisfying itself that the state interest is “compelling” and narrowly tailored to serve its purpose. E.g. Hunter v. Erickson, 393 U.S. 385 (1969). Likewise, if a classification, although not “suspect,” serves to deny an affected group a fundamental right, the statutory scheme must survive strict scrutiny. E.g., Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967). On the other hand, if the classification is not suspect and the right implicated is not one recognized as fundamental, the statutory scheme need only bear a “rational relationship” to its intended purpose. E.g., United States R.R. Retirement Bd. v. Fritz, 449 U.S. 166 (1980). Thus, given the multi-tiered nature of equal protection analysis, our first task in addressing appellant‘s point of error is to assign the proper standard of review to the problem.
Marital status is not a suspect classification requiring strict scrutiny. Califano v. Jobst, 434 U.S. 47, 53-54 (1977). In Califano v. Jobst, Jobst, a victim of cerebral palsy, challenged a federal law which canceled his Social Security benefits when he married a woman who was also disabled but who was not receiving Social Security disability payments. Social Security rules provided that disability payments were to end if the beneficiary married. Later, Congress created an exception for those who married persons who were also receiving benefits. Jobst challenged this rule on equal protection grounds. In upholding the rule, the Supreme Court stated:
[T]he marriage rule cannot be criticized as merely an unthinking response to stereotyped generalizations about a traditionally disadvantaged group, or as an attempt to interfere with the individual‘s freedom to make a decision as important as marriage.
Id. at 54. Finding that no fundamental right was implicated, the Court went on to conduct a “rational basis” analysis of the statute.
In his brief, appellant does not explicitly state which of his rights are implicated by this classification. He argues that a similarly situated person who had raped and murdered his spouse would only be subject to murder, rather than to capital murder, charges. From this statement we infer that appellant could be asserting three possible “rights“: (1) Appellant‘s right to see such a person prosecuted for capital murder; (2) Appellant‘s right not to be prosecuted for capital murder; or (3) Appellant‘s abstract interest in seeing that everyone is treated completely equally. None of these are sufficient to trigger a heightened level of scrutiny. First, no person has a cognizable judicial interest in the criminal prosecution or non-prosecution of another. R.S. v. D., 410 U.S. 614, 619 (1973).
In his brief, appellant acknowledges that the state may reasonably exclude spousal rapes from
In Califano v. Jobst, supra, the Supreme Court found that the purpose of denying benefits to those who were no longer in need of them was served by stopping benefits upon marriage. Congress sought to reduce the sometimes unjust result of this rule by exempting those who married someone else receiving benefits. The Court noted that a large number of spouses that are ineligible for benefits, or who simply do not receive them, are unable to provide for a disabled spouse. The Court held, however, that this inefficiency in the congressional scheme was excusable because:
The exception, like the general rule itself, is simple to administer. It requires no individualized inquiry into degrees of hardship or need. It avoids any necessity for periodic review of the beneficiaries’ continued entitlement. In the cases to which the exception does apply, it is a reliable indicator of probable hardship. Since the test is one that may be applied without introducing any new concepts into the administration of the trust fund Congress could reasonably take one firm step toward the goal of eliminating the hardship caused by the general marriage rule without accomplishing its entire objective in the same piece of legislation.
Califano v. Jobst, supra 434 U.S. at 56-57. The incorporation of
In his sixteenth point of error, appellant complains of the trial court‘s denial of his motion for change of venue. Appellant‘s motion was timely filed, stated a congizable reason for change of venue, and was properly accompanied by affidavits in support of his motion. The State controverted appellant‘s motion in a timely manner, raising a factual issue and the need for a hearing. At the hearing on appellant‘s motion, appellant called sixteen witnesses. Of these, most were representatives of newspapers or television stations, and all but one witness, including one of appellant‘s two compurgators, testified that appellant could receive a fair trial. The State called three witness, was prepared to call
In reviewing motions for change of venue, where there is a hearing on the motion and conflicting testimony is adduced, the proper standard of appellate review is whether the trial judge abused his discretion in denying the motion. E.g., Cockrum v. State, 758 S.W.2d 577, 584 (Tex.Cr.App.1988). Here, the vast majority of the testimony indicated that appellant could receive a fair trial.9 Based on the strength of the evidence indicating that appellant could receive a fair trial, the trial judge did not abuse his discretion. Point of error sixteen is overruled.
In his fifth point of error, appellant complains of the trial judge shuffling the venire after voir dire had begun. Appellant characterizes this shuffle as sua sponte. The State challenges this characterization and argues that appellant failed to preserve this point of error, that the trial court‘s action was not error,10 and that, if error, the error was harmless.
After 37 venireman had been qualified as jurors, an additional group of venireman were added to the panel. The trial court asked if either of the parties desired a jury shuffle. Appellant stated that he did not, but the State requested that a shuffle be conducted. Appellant asked, if there was to be a shuffle, that the previously qualified veniremen be shuffled along with the additional group. The trial judge requested authority for allowing such a procedure, and appellant responded that he had found no authority for, or against, it. The State asked whether it would be a full shuffle, mixing those already questioned with those who had not, or a partial shuffle, mixing only the additional veniremen and keeping those already qualified as numbers one through thirty-seven. The judge indicated that he believed it would be a partial shuffle, but he was not sure. There continued to be confusion about which option the judge would use. Eventually, appellant joined the State‘s motion for a shuffle, but additionally requested that it be a full shuffle. The State withdrew its motion for a shuffle if it were to be a full shuffle. After more jumbled discussion, one of the prosecutors said:
I object strenuously to any shuffle. We withdraw our request to any shuffle being with any previously qualified jurors. Now, perhaps with those that we haven‘t talked with, the State certainly wouldn‘t be opposed to that, if that is what Defense would like to do.
We understand this passage to mean that the State did not request any shuffle, would oppose a full shuffle, and would not oppose a partial shuffle. After more attempts to clarify each others’ positions, the trial judge denied the defense request for a full shuffle and ordered a partial shuffle.
Initially, we must determine whether appellant objected in such a manner as to inform the judge that he opposed a partial shuffle. In order to perfect an issue for
Our next inquiry is whether the trial judge‘s sua sponte order for a partial shuffle was error.
In Wilkerson, supra, the trial judge made some preliminary remarks and then entertained excuses, disqualifications and exemptions of the veniremen. Some time after this, apparently while appellant and the State were in chambers with the trial judge, the court coordinator and the bailiff conducted a jury shuffle of the panel pursuant to a standing order of the judge. After the jury panel was seated in its new positions, the defendant requested an additional shuffle. The trial judge refused the request stating, “I feel there has been a random shuffle and there is a fair order of perspective jurors.” Wilkerson, supra at 30. We held that the defendant‘s request was timely because it was made immediately after the trial judge concluded seating the panel and that the judge‘s sua sponte jury shuffle did not foreclose a proper motion to shuffle on the part of the State or the defendant. Id. We did not find that a sua sponte shuffle is error and expressly noted that “nothing in
In addition, there is an important factual distinction between Wilkerson and this case. Appellant asked for, and received, a shuffle of the initial jury panel before he was denied the request of which he complains. In Wilkerson, the defendant had not exercised his statutory right to a shuffle before the trial judge‘s denial which lead to his point of error. This difference is important because:
Article 35.11 gives the defendant an absolute right to have the jury shuffled. This, of course, does not allow the defendant to demand that the panel be continually reshuffled after his first motion has been granted. He is entitled, however, to the granting of that first motion, regardless of the manner in which the jury was originally assigned by the clerk.
Smith v. State, 648 S.W.2d 695, 696 (Tex.Cr.App.1983) (emphasis added). Thus, in Wilkerson, we found that there was a violation of the defendant‘s statutory right under
Although appellant was not entitled to an automatic jury shuffle under
Finally, we will address the question of whether the trial judge abused his discretion by, sua sponte, ordering a partial shuffle. Although, by careful scanning of the record, we have decided that neither the appellant nor the State had a pending request for a partial shuffle when the trial judge shuffled the panel, the confusion which permeated this bench conference could have left the trial judge with the impression that either, or both, the appellant and the State wanted a partial shuffle. When the State disavowed its request for a partial shuffle, the judge could have easily believed that the disavowal was solely motivated by an attempt to prevent losing the work already done in qualifying 37 veniremen. In addition, only our careful reading of the record revealed that appellant had withdrawn his request for a partial shuffle.
The trial judge, who is not afforded the luxury of poring over a transcription of the proceedings, could have easily and reasonably believed that the State and/or the appellant desired a partial shuffle. It was a reasonable exercise of discretion to attempt to facilitate the desires of the parties because there was no constitutional, statutory, or procedural rule which prohibited the judge‘s action. By shuffling only the additional jurors, the judge was able to best effectuate what he could have reasonably believed to be the appellant‘s desire for some sort of shuffle, without jeopardizing the work already done.
In addition, absent a specific objection, based on the sua sponte nature of the shuffle rather than one based on failure to conduct a full shuffle the judge‘s action was the best way to achieve the appellant‘s desire without wasting the jury qualification that had been done. Appellant‘s fifth point of error is overruled.
In points of error six and seven, appellant complains of the trial court‘s failure to grant motions requesting two veniremen be struck for cause because of their inability or unwillingness to consider voluntary intoxication in mitigation of punishment pursuant to
When the trial court errs in overruling a challenge for cause against a venireman, the defendant is harmed only if he used a peremptory strike to remove the venireman and thereafter suffers a detriment from the loss of the strike. Error is preserved only if the defendant exhausts his peremptory challenges, is denied a request for an additional peremptory challenge, indentifies a member of the jury as objectionable and claims that he would have struck the juror with a peremptory challenge.
Id. at 83 (emphasis added). Because appellant had peremptory challenges available for use on both of the juror‘s challenged in this appeal and failed to exercise those challenges, we find that the alleged error was not preserved for review. Points of error six and seven are overruled.
In his seventeenth point of error, appellant argues, without citing any authority, that appellant‘s confession was not voluntarily given. Appellant sought to
Appellant filed a pretrial motion to suppress his confession. This motion was overruled by the trial judge. During the trial, the State offered an edited version of the confession into evidence. When the evidence was offered, appellant‘s attorney stated, “Judge, we have no objection to 145-A [the confession].” This Court has held that:
It is settled that when a pretrial motion to suppress evidence is overruled, the accused need not subsequently object to the admission of the same evidence at trial in order to preserve error. However, when the accused affirmatively asserts during trial the has “no objection” to the admission of the complained of evidence, he waives any error in the admission of the evidence despite the pretrial ruling.
Gearing v. State, 685 S.W.2d 326, 329 (Tex.Cr.App.1985).12 We hold that appellant‘s affirmative statement that he had “no objection” waived any error that might have occurred when the confession was admitted. Appellant‘s seventeenth point of error is overruled.
In appellant‘s tenth point of error, he complains of the prosecutor‘s argument to the jury in which he referred to Barbara Mayfield‘s “naked body.” The evidence showed that Mayfield was clothed when her body was discovered. The State contended that there was a transcription error in the statement of facts, and upon a motion by the State, we abated this appeal to determine whether the statement of facts should be corrected. James v. State, 745 S.W.2d 28 (Tex.Cr.App.1988). After testimony by the court reporter as to the content of her original notes, the statement of facts was amended to reflect that the prosecutor referred to Mayfield‘s “dead body.” This point of error is now moot, and appellant does not challenge the procedure by which the statement of facts was amended. Appellant‘s tenth point of error is overruled.
In his eighth point of error, appellant argues that State‘s exhibits forty-six through sixty-three should not have been admitted into evidence because their prejudicial effect would outweigh their probative value. These exhibits are 8×10, color photographs of Barbara Mayfield‘s body, as it appeared on a mortuary slab prior to autopsy. Relying on Martin v. State, 475 S.W.2d 265 (Tex.Cr.App.1972), and Albrecht v. State, 486 S.W.2d 97 (Tex.Cr.App.1972), appellant contends that if the probative value of a photograph, or, for that matter, any evidence, is outweighed by its improper prejudicial effect, that piece of evidence is inadmissible. Appellant argues that the probative value of these photographs is slight because they were not used by any witness to assist his or her testimony.13 The State responds by offering a number of theories alleging that appellant waived this point of error and finally addresses the merits of appellant‘s claim
Relying on Brown v. State, 696 S.W.2d 913 (Tex.Cr.App.1985), the State contends that an objection to photographic evidence is waived if the same information contained in the photographs is conveyed to the jury in testimonial form. We feel that Brown is inapplicable to the instant case. In Brown, the defendant was tried for attempting to murder Ruiz. Oville, a person who tried to stop the altercation between the defendant and Ruiz, was also stabbed by the defendant. The defendant objected to the introduction of photographs which depicted the injuries received by Oville. The basis for the defendant‘s objection was that these photographs constituted proof of an extraneous offense. We found that the objection was waived because Oville showed his wounds in open court and told about the circumstances surrounding their infliction. Thus, the information which the defendant wished to keep from the jury, the existence of an extraneous offense, found its way to the jury through an alternate route. This case presents different situation.
Here, appellant wished to keep the jury from knowing how the body looked on a mortuary slab. Although the testimony told the jury that Mayfield‘s body was taken to a mortuary, placed on the slab, and autopsied, it never related that Mayfield‘s face and body were caked with dried blood, that blood continued to drip from her body, collecting on the white slab and draining into a small reservoir, that her eyes were open and fixed, or that her jaw hung open and jutted to the right side. Dr. Simpson‘s testimony and the photographs deal with the same subject matter but do not convey the same graphic information. The waiver rule that the State would have us invoke does not apply to an objection to the gruesomeness of photographs unless the testimony itself is gruesome and conveys the aspects of the photographs which would be likely to inflame the minds of jurors. We have found no case from this Court which applies the rule announced in Brown to an objection based on gruesomeness.
The State argues that appellant waived this point of error because of his failure to adequately cite to the record in his brief. The State relies on Hawkins v. State, 613 S.W.2d 720 (Tex.Cr.App.1981).14 In Hawkins, the defendant briefed a point of error alleging that the State had asked improper questions during jury voir dire. Because that defendant neither gave the names of the veniremen who were asked improper questions nor cited to the portion of the statement of facts where the questions could be found, this Court refused to review the point of error. Hawkins, supra at 734-35. Here, appellant identified the exhibits about which he was complaining and identified witnesses who did, or could have, used the photographs in their testimony. Appellant‘s brief satisfies the requirements of Hawkins.
Finally, we turn to the merits of appellant‘s eighth point of error. The general rule for admission of photographs was set out by this Court in Martin v. State, 475 S.W.2d 265 (Tex.Cr.App.1972).
We hold that if a photograph is competent, material and relevant to the issue on trial, it is not rendered inadmissible merely because it is gruesome or might tend to arouse the passions of the jury, unless it is offered solely to inflame the minds of the jury. If a verbal description of the body and the scene would be admissible, a photograph depicting the same is admissible.
Id. at 267 (footnotes omitted). We have repeatedly held that photographs of a dead body, taken before autopsy, are “competent, material, and relevant” when they depict the extent and nature of injuries.
[R]elevant photographs [are not inadmissible] merely because the deceased has been removed to clinical surroundings.
Bailey v. State, 532 S.W.2d 316, 322 (Tex.Cr.App.1975). See also, e.g., Thomas v. State, 701 S.W.2d 653, 660 (Tex.Cr.App.1985); Rumbaugh v. State, 629 S.W.2d 747, 755 (Tex.Cr.App.1982). We find that these photographs had some probative value and were not introduced solely to inflame the jury. Burdine v. State, 719 S.W.2d 309, 317 (Tex.Cr.App.1986); cert. denied, 480 U.S. 940 (1987). Appellants eighth point of error is overruled.
In his ninth point of error, appellant argues that the trial judge should not have admitted testimony concerning the high school activities of the deceased. The following occurred at trial.
[Questions by prosecutor]
Q: Was she ever involved in activities such as homecoming and that type of thing?
MR. MARSH: Objection with respect to relevancy.
THE COURT: Overruled.
Q: Sir?
A: Can I answer the question?
Q: Was she involved in homecoming activities or anything like that?
A: Yes, sir. She was homecoming queen twice. She was a drum major. She was also voted most beautiful girl two years.
Appellant contends that the State may not introduce evidence of a deceased‘s good character unless it is in rebuttal to a defendant‘s attack on the character of the deceased or an assertion that the deceased was the first aggressor. Appellant never attacked Mayfield‘s character nor did he claim self-defense or provocation. The State contends that appellant‘s argument on appeal is different from his trial objection and that if there was error, the error was harmless.
The rules and policies concerning specificity of objections are set out in Zillender, supra.15
The generally acknowledged policies of requiring specific objections are two-fold. First, a specific objection is required to inform the trial judge of the basis of the objection and afford him the opportunity to rule on it. Second, a specific objection is required to afford opposing counsel an opportunity to remove the objection or supply other testimony. In accordance with these policies, a number of exceptions to the general rule that a party cannot complain on appeal to the overruling of a general objection or an imprecise specific objection have been created. Thus, where the correct ground of exclusion was obvious to the judge and opposing counsel, no waiver results from a general or imprecise objection.
Id. at 517 (citations and footnotes omitted). Thus, our inquiry on waiver will focus on whether “Objection with respect to relevancy” made it obvious to the judge and State that appellant was invoking the general rule that the State may not prove the good character of the deceased.
Although this case was not tried under the new Rules of Criminal Evidence, the placement of relevance and character of the deceased in separate rules indicates that these are similar, but distinct, issues.16 Thus, a relevancy objection and an objection to an improper use of character evidence are very different things. We find
In his eleventh point of error, appellant argues that he is entitled to a new trial because the State sought to discredit Dr. Wendell Dickerson, a licensed psychologist and one of appellant‘s expert witnesses during the punishment phase, by asking him questions about another capital murder case in which he testified on behalf of the defendant. The questioning transpired as follows:
[Questions by Mr. Little, prosecutor]
Q: Dr. Dickerson, I believe we‘ve met under somewhat similar circumstances, haven‘t we?
A: That‘s entirely correct. It‘s a pleasure to see you again.
Q: Thank you. Same here. I believe you testified for the Defense in a capital murder case involving David DeBlanc in Liberty County last September; is that right?
A: I never did know the defendant‘s name.
Q: He was the man who robbed and murdered a Catholic priest up in Ames?
A: That‘s correct.
The State responds that appellant waived any error by failing to object and that, if this point was preserved, the question and answer were not error, and, if error, the error was harmless.
In support of its contention that appellant waived error, if any, the State cites Thomas v. State, 530 S.W.2d 834, 837 (Tex.Cr.App.1975), for the proposition that if a party fails to object to a question, nothing, with regard to that question is presented for appellate review. We agree with the State‘s assessment of Thomas, supra. Because there was no objection, we have no trial court ruling to review. Id. See also Purtell v. State, 761 S.W.2d 360, 365-367 (Tex.Cr.App.1988); Perry v. State, 703 S.W.2d 668, 670-71 (Tex.Cr.App.1986). Appellant anticipated the State‘s waiver argument in his brief and cites Romo v. State, 631 S.W.2d 504, 505-06 (Tex.Cr.App.1982), for the proposition that, if an instruction to disregard would not cure an error, then no objection is necessary. Romo, supra, is not applicable to the instant case. Excusing a defendant from objecting in certain circumstances is rooted in the idea that the unobjected error is fundamental. See Perry v. State, 703 S.W.2d 668, 671-72 (Tex.Cr.App.1986). See also
In his fifteenth point of error, appellant argues that admission of testimony from Barbara Mayfield‘s brother and A.H. concerning the impact of the offense constituted a violation of his Eighth Amendment rights and is prohibited by the Supreme Court‘s opinion in Booth v. Maryland, 482 U.S. 496 (1987). The State counters that appellant‘s failure to object waived error and that Booth is distinguishable from the instant case. We agree that there was waiver and will not address the merits of appellant‘s claim.
When the testimony that appellant now complains of was given, appellant did not object. The State cites a number of cases which hold that a failure to object to the introduction of evidence waives that point of error for appellate purposes. E.g., Thomas, supra; Granviel v. State, 552 S.W.2d 107
This Court has for at least twelve years held that a defendant has not waived his right to assert a constitutional violation by failing to object at trial if at the time of his trial the right had not been recognized.
Chambers, supra at 486 (per Campbell, J. concurring, joined by W.C. Davis, Clinton, McCormick, Teague, and Miller, JJ.)
In Booth, the Supreme Court predicated its decision on the Eighth Amendment‘s guarantee that the death penalty will not be applied in an arbitrary manner. Booth, supra at 107 S.Ct. 2535-36. The right to be free from arbitrary or capricious capital sentencing has been recognized, at least, since Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 189 (1976) (joint opinion of Stewart, Powell, and Stevens, JJ.), reh. denied, 429 U.S. 875 (1976), and California v. Ramos, 463 U.S. 992, 999 (1983). See Booth, supra at 107 S.Ct. 2532. In addition to the Eighth Amendment rights recognized in Gregg, supra, and Ramos, supra, the Supreme Court engaged in analysis of the probative value of victim-impact evidence versus its likelihood of unfairly inflaming the minds of jurors. Booth, supra at 107 S.Ct. 2535-36. This type of evidentiary analysis has long been a part of Texas jurisprudence. See, e.g.,
In his twelfth point of error, appellant claims that the prosecutor‘s closing argument during the punishment phase of his trial was improper because it injected new and harmful facts. The prosecutor said:
He [appellant] didn‘t care one fig what he did to them. Not one. You know how you can see that? Because when he carelessly tossed the body of Barbara Harrington Mayfield into those weeds on Hebert Road, he tossed something else out after her. Look at the shoe without the hole. The shoe she couldn‘t put on. The shoe she didn‘t wear to where she lay dying on Hebert Road. Who tossed it there? Who threw it there? Who threw it out of the car?
Appellant contends that the evidence never directly established that appellant put the shoe where it was found and that such an inference is also unsupported by the evidence. The State responds that appellant waived error by failing to object and, alternately, that the statement was a reasonable inference from the evidence. We find that appellant‘s failure to object waived this point of error.
Generally, if a defendant fails to object to improper argument by a prosecutor, the error is waived. An exception, however, exists for arguments that are so prejudicial that an instruction to disregard would not be effective. E.g., Briddle v. State, 742 S.W.2d 379, 389 (Tex.Cr.App.1987). C.f. Thomas v. State, 530 S.W.2d 834, 837 (Tex.Cr.App.1975) (no exception when issue is improperly admitted evidence). Therefore, we will determine whether an instruction to disregard would have cured the argument of which appellant complains.
The instant argument suggested that the jury could infer that appellant did not care about the well-being of his victims because
In his second point of error, the appellant contends that the trial court erred in failing to define the term “deliberately” in the court‘s instructions to the jury at the punishment phase. This Court has repeatedly held that, because the term “deliberately” has not been defined by statute, the term is to be understood in light of common usage and need not be defined in the charge to the jury on punishment.17 E.g., Demouchette, supra at 80. Point of error two is overruled.
In his fourth point of error, appellant argues that the trial judge‘s refusal to grant a requested jury instruction at the punishment phase, concerning voluntary intoxication as mitigation of punishment, was reversible error. Appellant‘s proposed instruction stated:
You can consider, in mitigating or lessening the defendant‘s punishment, that at the time of the murder, that capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality (wrongfulness) of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was impaired as a result of voluntary intoxication.
The State responds that the evidence adduced was insufficient to support such an instruction. Rather than conduct a review of the evidence to support this instruction, we find that, regardless of the evidence presented, appellant was not entitled to the requested instruction. This Court has repeatedly held that, although a capital murder defendant has a right to have certain evidence considered in mitigation of punishment, he is not entitled to jury instructions specifically informing the jury that certain evidence may be considered or how it may be applied. E.g., Cordova v. State, 733 S.W.2d 175, 190 (Tex.Cr.App.1987); Demouchette, supra at 80.
Appellant was entitled to present evidence of any mitigating circumstances and did present such evidence.... The question then is whether the language of the special issue is so complex that an explanatory charge is necessary to keep the jury from disregarding the evidence
Having considered the appellant‘s points of error and finding no reversible error, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
MILLER and DUNCAN, JJ., concur in result.
CLINTON, Judge, dissenting.
[Dissenting opinion omitted.]
CAMPBELL, Judge.
Appellant was convicted of capital murder. On original submission we affirmed appellant‘s conviction. James v. State, 772 S.W.2d 84 (Tex.Cr.App.1989). We granted appellant‘s motion for rehearing for the sole purpose of addressing a point of error raised, but not addressed on original submission.1
Appellant argues that the trial judge erred in overruling appellant‘s request for a special instruction at the punishment phase which would inform the jury that “intentional” and “deliberate” have different meanings. The State responds that appellant failed to preserve this error and, alternately, under Williams v. State, 674 S.W.2d 315 (Tex.Cr.App.1984), that no such instruction was necessary.
[A]s used in the first special issue, the word ‘deliberately’ has a meaning different and distinct from the word ‘intentionally’ as that word was previously defined in the charge on guilt.
We find that error, if any, was preserved.
In Heckert v. State, 612 S.W.2d 549, 552 (Tex.Cr.App.1981), we held that “deliberate,” as used in
Appellant‘s motion for rehearing is in all respects denied, and the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
DUNCAN, J., concurs in result.
CLINTON and TEAGUE, JJ., dissent.