Lead Opinion
Introduction
The question in this appeal is whether the trial court erred by signing nunc pro tunc orders to add an affirmative deadly weapon finding to a judgment four and a half years after it signed the original judgment, which recited “NONE” in the space for deadly weapon findings. In a single issue, Appellant argues that the trial court erred by signing the orders nunc pro tunc because the trial court’s omission of an affirmative deadly weapon finding in the original judgment was a judicial decision and not a clerical error. We agree, and we reverse the nunc pro tunc orders.
Background Facts
On May 25, 1999, a grand jury indicted Appellant in Cause No. 0726955A for the offense of attempting to commit capital murder of more than one person in the same transaction “with a deadly weapon: to-wit: a firearm....” On August 6, 2001, he pleaded guilty to the offense of attempted capital murder in this cause and to charges of murder and attempted murder in two other causes not in issue here, pursuant to a plea agreement. The plea agreement, signed by Appellant, his counsel, and the prosecutor, reflects that the State’s recommended sentence was “50 yrs IDTDCJ + conditions enumerated in 0724052” in each case, to run concurrently.
[Y]ou are hereby admonished in writing:
1. You are charged with the felony offense of: Att. Capital Murder
2. If convicted, you face the following range of punishment:
X FIRST DEGREE FELONY: a term of life or any term of not more than 99 years, nor less than five years....
The written plea entered by Appellant in the record states,
I hereby, in open Court, enter my plea of guilty to the (allegations contained in the INDICTMENT/INFORMATION against me) (lesser included offense of att. cap. murder).
Appellant’s judicial confession in the record states,
I swear my true name is Brian Kenson Johnson. I further state that I have read the indictment or information filed in this case and that I committed each and every allegation it contains. I am guilty of the offense alleged as well as all lesser included offenses. I swear to all of the foregoing and I further swear that all testimony I give in the case will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God.
is/
DEFENDANT
A reporter’s record of the hearing on Appellant’s plea of guilty in all three cases on August 6, 2001, has been filed in this court and reveals, as pertinent to the issue before us, that the trial court confirmed that Appellant had read the plea admonishments in each case and understood them and that the signature was his in each place where his name was signed. The written plea admonishments and plea papers in each case were admitted into evidence. The trial court then inquired,
*423 THE COURT: All right. In Cause No. 0724052, to the charge of murder, you may plead guilty or not guilty.
THE DEFENDANT: Guilty.
THE COURT: Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty and for no other reason?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: All right. In Cause No. 0723702, to the charge of attempted capital murder, you may plead guilty or not guilty.
THE DEFENDANT: Guilty.
THE COURT: Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty and for no other reason?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: And in Cause No 0726955, to the charge of attempted capital murder, you may plead guilty or not guilty.
THE DEFENDANT: Guilty.
THE COURT: Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty and for no other reason?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: All right. On your plea of guilty in each case, I’m going to find you guilty in each case. I’m going to assess your punishment in each case to 50 years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. You’re to truthfully — testify truthfully against your codefendants, testify at plea [sic], and furnish any communications between Defendant and other codefendants. All of these will run concurrently. Is that your understanding of the plea-bargain agreement?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: And did you approve that?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Is that your understanding, Counselor?
MR. GILFEATHER: Yes, Your Honor.
THE COURT: And did you approve that?
MR. GILFEATHER: Yes, Your honor.
The judgment form in this cause, Cause No. 0726955A, was signed on the same date as the hearing, recites that Appellant is convicted of “ATTEMPTED CAPITAL MURDER-MULTIPLE VICTIMS,” with an offense date of March 1, 1999, and recites the terms of the plea bargain as “50 yrs IDTDCJ + CONDITIONS....” In the space for “Findings on Deadly Weapon,” the word “NONE” is typed in.
Some four and a half years later, on January 23, 2006, the State filed a motion for judgment nunc pro tunc, alleging that the trial court had “inadvertently omitted” the affirmative deadly weapons finding and that Appellant had pleaded guilty to the offense including use of a deadly weapon and praying that the court correct the judgment by adding an affirmative deadly weapon finding.
On February 13, 2006, the trial court signed a nunc pro tunc order stating that it had been “made known [to] and considered” by the court that the entry relating to a finding on use of a deadly weapon in the judgment was a clerical error and that the affirmative finding of a deadly weapon had been “inadvertently omitted” and ordering that the entry be amended to recite, “The Court affirmatively finds that the defendant used or exhibited a Deadly Weapon, to-wit: A firearm during the commission of the offense or during the immediate flight therefrom.”
On February 14, 2006, the trial court entered a second nunc pro tunc order “correcting the minutes of the court,” amending the judgment to change the entry for “Findings on Deadly Weapon:” from
The trial court certified the case for appeal as involving an appealable order. The trial court also ordered copies of both orders sent to the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Deadly Weapon Findings
An affirmative finding of the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon may be made
when it is shown that a deadly weapon ... was used or exhibited during the commission of a felony offense or during immediate flight therefrom, and that the defendant used or exhibited the deadly weapon or was a party to the offense and knew that a deadly weapon would be used or exhibited. On an affirmative finding under this subdivision, the trial court shall enter the finding in the judgment of the court.
Tex.Code CRiM. PROC. art. 42.12, § 8g(a)(2) (Vernon 2006).
Article 42.12 contemplates a two-step process. First, the jury or trial court as trier of fact makes an express, affirmative finding of fact that the defendant used or exhibited a deadly weapon in the course of committing the offense charged or in immediate flight from the commission of the offense. Polk v. State,
Second, when that affirmative finding is made by the trier of fact, it then becomes the mandatory duty of the trial court to enter a separate and specific deadly weapon finding in the judgment. Id. at 394. Because parole eligibility is determined on “flat time” alone without consideration of good time for a conviction where a deadly weapon has been used or exhibited, the statute was written to require entry of the finding in the judgment in order that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice could know from the judgment how to compute a defendant’s date for parole. Lafleur v. State,
When the trial court is the finder of fact, it has the authority to make an affirmative deadly weapon finding upon proper proof as well as to enter it in the judgment. Ex parte Franklin,
Where the trial court is the finder of fact, it is discretionary with the court whether to make an affirmative deadly weapon finding in the first instance even when such a finding would be supported by the evidence. See, e.g., Fanniel v. State,
And even where the trial court, as trier of fact, has made an affirmative deadly weapon finding either expressly or as a matter of law, it nevertheless retains the discretion not to enter the deadly weapon finding in the judgment. See, e.g., Hooks v. State,
Nunc Pro Tunc Orders
Cases involving the issue of whether an affirmative finding of a deadly weapon should or should not have been made or entered in a judgment have been fertile ground for producing nunc pro tunc orders. While we do not know what prompted the State’s epiphany in this case some four and a half years after conviction that Appellant’s judgment erroneously omitted a deadly weapon finding, the instigating factor was likely a communication from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice regarding Appellant’s time served for purposes of release on parole. See, e.g., Ex parte Empey,
The purpose of a nunc pro tunc order is to correctly reflect in the records of the trial court the judgment it actually made but which, for some reason, did not enter of record at the proper time. Smith v. State,
A judgment nunc pro tunc is improper if it has the effect of making a new or independent order. Smith,
Additionally, it is well settled that a judgment nunc pro tunc may correct only clerical errors in a judgment, not judicial omissions or errors. State v. Gobel,
Application of Law to Facts
Appellant contends that any error in not making or entering an affirmative deadly weapon finding in the judgment was not a clerical error but the result of judicial reasoning so that the nunc pro tunc orders are void. The State responds that Appellant had the burden to present a record showing reversible error and has failed to present a sufficient record on appeal to support his claim that a deadly weapon finding was not part of the plea bargain on which the judgment was based, citing Ex parte Empey, in which the court of criminal appeals held that the burden of proving allegations entitling the defendant to relief was on the applicant.
Ex parte Empey is not applicable here. That case involved a petition for writ of habeas corpus. The court of criminal appeals held that the petitioner had the burden of proving all allegations not denied by the State in a habeas proceeding. Id. In contrast, this is a direct appeal from the judgment nunc pro tunc in which the State carried the burden on its own motion in the trial court. See Smith,
But the State contends that Appellant’s judicial confession to the allegations of the indictment, which included the deadly weapon allegation, and the trial court’s acceptance of the “plea papers,” including Appellant’s judicial confession and written statement describing his exhibition of a pistol in the course of commission of the
On this record, there is no evidence that a deadly weapon finding was part of the plea agreement, and the record is uncon-troverted that it was not. Compare Ex parte Empey,
The State nevertheless maintains the basic position that Appellant pleaded guilty — and the trial court accepted his plea — to the offense as charged in the indictment, including the charge of use of a deadly weapon. Again, we disagree. In his questioning of Appellant at the plea hearing, at no time did the trial court refer to the allegations of use of a deadly weapon in the indictment, nor did the trial court find Appellant guilty of the offense “as alleged” or “as charged” in the indictment. The trial court expressly asked Appellant only to enter his plea of guilty or not guilty “in Cause No. 0726955, to the charge of attempted capital murder,” and further stated, “All right. On your plea of guilty in each case, I’m going to find you guilty in each case.” The trial court then had Appellant confirm that he understood his plea, the punishment, and his agreement to testify against his codefendants.
It is clear from the transcript of the plea hearing that the trial court made no oral affirmative finding that Appellant used or exhibited a deadly weapon and did not “necessarily find” Appellant used a deadly weapon by finding him guilty “as alleged in the indictment,” and there is no evidence he intended to do so. Instead, the trial court merely found him guilty of the offense of “attempted capital murder” pursuant to the plea bargain agreement. Therefore, the cases holding that a deadly weapon finding arises as a matter of law when the trier of fact finds a defendant guilty “as alleged in the indictment” are
Therefore, the trial court could not properly sign a judgment nunc pro tunc making such a finding four and one-half years later and enter it in the judgment under the reasoning that it had “inadvertently” omitted to make and enter such a finding in the original judgment. See Ex parte Dopps,
Moreover, any doubt as to the trial court’s original intent is removed by its express finding of “NONE” regarding affirmative deadly weapon findings in the original judgment. The trial court’s express statement that no deadly weapon finding was made was within the trial court’s discretion and required judicial reasoning; thus, it could not be the result of a merely clerical error.
We hold that the nunc pro tunc orders amending the judgment by deleting “NONE” and substituting an affirmative finding that Appellant did use or exhibit a deadly weapon are not a correction of a clerical error in the original judgment but are an improper modification of a product of judicial reasoning and are, as a matter of law, void. See Fanniel,
Conclusion
We pause to point out that “[bjefore any unfavorable nunc pro tunc order[][is] entered, the [defendant] should be given an opportunity to be present for the hearing, represented by counsel, in order to accord him due process of law.” Shaw v. State,
Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s orders nunc pro tunc of February 13, 2006 and February 14, 2006, and order the affirmative deadly weapon finding stricken from the judgment.
LIVINGSTON, J., filed a dissenting opinion.
Notes
. The Plea Agreement in Cause No. 0724052 is not in the record, but the conditions referred to are not at issue in this appeal.
. This issue implicates fundamental liberty interests. A deadly weapon finding does not alter the sentence that may be imposed but does affect a defendant’s eligibility for probation and parole. Ex parte Huskins,
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I disagree with the majority’s holdings that the trial court failed to make a deadly weapon finding and used judicial reasoning by inserting the word “NONE” in the judgment.
The indictment states that appellant did “then and there, with the specific intent to commit the offense of capital murder ... intentionally shoot Kendrick Green and Alonzo Primus with a deadly weapon, to-wit: a firearm.” Based on the language in the indictment, appellant had notice that the State would seek an affirmative finding. See Ex parte Huskins,
By asking appellant at the August 6, 2001 plea hearing if he had signed page three of the plea admonishment form— which referred back to the indictment — by accepting appellant’s verbal guilty plea, and by stating, “On your plea of guilty in each case, I’m going to find you guilty in each case,” the trial court necessarily determined that appellant used a deadly weapon “by shooting” in the commission of the attempted capital murder offense. Ex parte Huskins,
Here, the trial court made two deadly weapon findings — an affirmative finding by accepting appellant’s guilty plea and a negative finding in the judgment. The trial court used judicial reasoning in making the affirmative finding, as appellant pled guilty to the offense as alleged in the indictment. See Ex parte Huskins,
