Jose Juan CARDENAS, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
No. 01-11-01123-CR.
Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (1st Dist.).
March 21, 2013.
Rehearing En Banc Overruled May 13, 2013. Rehearing Denied Aug. 21, 2013.
403 S.W.3d 377
MICHAEL MASSENGALE, Justice.
Panel consists of Justices KEYES, MASSENGALE, and BROWN.
OPINION ON REHEARING*
MICHAEL MASSENGALE, Justice.
Appellant Jose Juan Cardenas pleaded guilty to the first-degree felony offense of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. See
Background
Cardenas was indicted for aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. The indictment alleged that Cardenas “did ... while in the course of committing theft of property owned by [the complainant], and with intent to obtain and maintain control of the property, intentionally and knowingly threaten [the complainant] and place [him] in fear of imminent bodily injury and death,” and that he “did then and there use and exhibit a deadly weapon, namely, A FIREARM.”
Prior to entering his guilty plea, Cardenas executed a two-page form document, the first page of which contains the following waiver of constitutional rights, agreement to stipulate, and judicial confession:
In open court and prior to entering my plea, I waive the right of trial by jury. I also waive the appearance, confrontation, and cross-examination of witnesses, and my right against self-incrimination. The charges against me allege that in Harris County, Texas, JOSE JUAN CARDENAS, hereinafter styled the Defendant, heretofore on or about JUNE 15, 2011, did then and there unlawfully, while in the course of committing theft of property owned by [the complainant] and with intent to obtain and maintain control of the property, intentionally and knowingly threaten and place in fear of imminent bodily injury and death, and the Defendant did then and there use and exhibit a deadly weapon, namely, A FIREARM.
The second page of the form includes the recital that “I understand the above allegations and I confess that they are true and that the acts alleged above were committed on June 15, 2011.” The form further states: “In open court I consent to the oral and written stipulation of evidence in this case....” The document bears Cardenas‘s signature, sworn and subscribed before a deputy district clerk on September 20, 2011. This page was also signed by the defense attorney, who thereby confirmed that he represented Cardenas, and discussed with him the document and its consequences. The attorney further confirmed that he believed Cardenas knowingly and voluntarily executed the document after their discussion. The same document was signed by an assistant district attorney, indicating consent to and approval of Cardenas‘s waiver of trial by jury and stipulation of evidence.
The trial court ordered the preparation of a presentence investigation report. After a hearing, the court found Cardenas guilty and sentenced him to 25 years in prison, stating on the record that he would receive credit for 118 days already served. The final judgment assessed $294 in court costs and stated, “The Court ORDERS that upon release from confinement, Defendant proceed immediately to the Harris County District Clerk‘s office. Once there, the Court ORDERS Defendant to pay, or make arrangements to pay, any remaining unpaid fines, court costs, and restitution as ordered by the Court.”
Represented by the Harris County Public Defender‘s office, Cardenas brings this appeal.
Analysis
Cardenas raises two separate issues challenging the sufficiency of the evidence to support the judgment. First, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the judgment of conviction. Second, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support the judgment‘s award of costs.
I. Sufficiency of evidence to support conviction
In his first issue, Cardenas argues that the evidence in the record is insufficient to support his conviction because there is no statement by him, there is no evidence independent of his guilty plea, and the paper he signed “has no connection to the specific charges in this conviction.” He therefore argues that no evidence was produced to support the conviction. In response, the State argues that Cardenas entered a judicial confession that was sufficient to support the judgment of guilt.
In a review of the sufficiency of the evidence to support each element of a criminal offense, “we consider all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict to determine whether, based on that evidence and the reasonable inferences therefrom,” the factfinder was rationally justified in finding guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Merritt v. State, 368 S.W.3d 516, 525 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). Article 1.15 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides that in the event of a felony conviction based upon a guilty plea in lieu of a jury verdict, “it shall be necessary for the state to introduce evidence into the record showing the guilt of the defendant and ... in no event shall a person charged be convicted upon his plea without sufficient evidence to support the same.”
A person commits robbery if, in the course of committing theft, and with intent to obtain or maintain control of property, he intentionally or knowingly places another in fear of imminent bodily injury or death.
Cardenas signed a document titled “Waiver of Constitutional Rights, Agreement to Stipulate, and Judicial Confession.” The stipulated facts mirror the allegations in the indictment, in that Cardenas confessed that he “did then and there unlawfully, while in the course of committing theft of property owned by [the complainant], and with intent to obtain and maintain control of the property, intentionally and knowingly threaten and place [him] in fear of imminent bodily injury and death, and [Cardenas] did then and there use and exhibit a deadly weapon, namely, a firearm.” Cardenas waived “the right of trial by jury ... [and] the appearance, confrontation, and cross-examination of witnesses, and my right against self-incrimination.” He specifically acknowledged, “I understand the above allegations and I confess that they are true and that the acts alleged above were committed on June 15, 2011,” the date alleged in the indictment. In addition, he consented to “the oral and written stipulations of evidence in this case” and acknowledged that he “read the indictment and committed each and every element alleged.”
Thus, Cardenas signed a sworn written statement covering all elements of the charged offense, admitting his culpability and acknowledging that the allegations against him were true and correct. He also acknowledged, independently of his guilty plea, that he “committed each and every element alleged.” See Menefee, 287 S.W.3d at 13. When an appellant has provided a valid judicial confession to all of the elements of the offense, the record need not provide further proof. See id. at 13-14, 17-18.
Cardenas nevertheless argues that there is no evidence supporting the plea because the page bearing his signature “has no connection to the specific charges in this conviction.” The argument refers to the fact that the “Waiver of Constitutional Rights, Agreement to Stipulate, and Judicial Confession” is a two-page document, and the description of the charges appears on the first, unsigned, page, while the signatures of Cardenas, the deputy district clerk, the defense attorney, the prosecutor, and the trial judge all appear on the second page. Cardenas asserts that there is “no connection” between the two pages of the document, which appear in succession in the clerk‘s record, “other than their placement in the record.” The argument necessarily fails because the second page bearing the signatures makes no sense without reference to the first. The first
We reject the implausible contention that the second page of the stipulation and judicial confession signed by Cardenas in connection with his anticipated guilty plea has no connection to the specific charges described on the first page of that document. We hold that the evidence is legally sufficient to support Cardenas‘s conviction, and we overrule this issue.
II. Sufficiency of evidence to support court costs
In his second issue, Cardenas argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the judgment against him assessing court costs of $294. He did not object in any way to the amount of the costs in the trial court or the procedure by which the amount of costs was determined, but no such objection was required to raise an appellate challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support the award of costs. See Mayer v. State, 309 S.W.3d 552, 556 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). We review the sufficiency of the evidence to support the award of costs by viewing all record evidence in the light most favorable to the award. See id. at 557.
The argument on appeal is premised entirely on the fact that when the clerk‘s record was originally prepared, no bill of costs was included despite the fact that it was specifically requested. See
A cost is not payable by the person charged with the cost until a written bill is produced or is ready to be produced, containing the items of cost, signed by the officer who charged the cost or the officer who is entitled to receive payment for the cost.
a. Supplementation of record with bill of costs
Chapter 103 of the Code of Criminal Procedure governs the collection of costs and recordkeeping in criminal cases. The district clerk is required to “keep a
Cardenas first objected that this court should not have ordered a supplemental record containing a bill of costs, arguing that the Fourteenth Court of Appeals, in Johnson v. State, recently held in a similar circumstance that a document created after the judgment was rendered cannot be considered on appeal.3 We note, however, that in Johnson no party apparently argued, and the Fourteenth Court of Appeals did not address, the effect in these circumstances of article 103.006 and appel
Cardenas‘s objection also specifically addressed Rule 34.5(c), arguing without any other authority that this rule “does not contemplate the creation of a document.”4 We note, however, that the text of Rule 34.5(c) also does not exclude the possibility of supplementation with a public record, the creation of which is otherwise required by law, and article 103.006 does contemplate that a bill of costs shall be certified, signed, and sent upon the appeal of a criminal action, which necessarily occurs after the entry of a final judgment.5
Finally, Cardenas asserted that “[a] newly created bill of costs fails to fulfill due process,” relying again upon Johnson and also on Harrell v. State, 286 S.W.3d 315 (Tex. 2009). Johnson does not make any express reference to due-process considerations. Harrell is procedurally distinguishable because it was a civil proceeding filed by a prison inmate who challenged the withdrawal of funds from his trust account to pay court costs, but did not challenge the amount of costs assessed. Harrell, 286 S.W.3d at 316-17. In contrast, this is a direct criminal appeal that does purport to challenge the assessment of costs. A contemporary objection in the trial court is not required to raise such an issue on direct appeal, see Mayer, 309 S.W.3d at 555-56, so Cardenas was not procedurally prejudiced by his alleged inability to raise his objections in the trial court. Moreover, despite the lack of a
Accordingly, we overrule Cardenas‘s objections to the supplementation of the record.
b. Sufficiency of bill of costs
We measure the sufficiency of the evidence to support the award of costs by viewing all of the record evidence in the light most favorable to the award. See Mayer, 309 S.W.3d at 557. In response to our order, the district clerk filed a document which on its face appears to have been generated by the Harris County Clerk‘s Justice Information Management System, commonly known as JIMS.6 To the extent this document had not been reduced to a hard-copy printout and thereby made part of the clerk‘s record prior to the entry of judgment in this case, we nevertheless consider this document as evidence of the record that was available to the court and to the parties prior to the entry of judgment, which we review in the light most favorable to the award. See id. at 557.
The document, entitled “Cost Bill Assessment,” itemized the various costs assessed in Cardenas‘s case. The costs, many of which were assessed pursuant to rules of criminal procedure or statutory directives applicable to any conviction of a felony offense in a district court, are itemized on two pages. The first page lists various costs and a subtotal of $120 of costs, including:
| $40 | “clerks fee”7 |
| $75 | “sheriffs fee”8 |
| + $5 | “security fee”9 |
| $120 | subtotal |
The first page also lists the following costs which evidently are component parts of the $75 “sheriffs fee“:10
| $50 | “serving capias”11 |
| $10 | “taking; 01 bonds”12 |
| $5 | “commitment”13 |
| + $5 | “arrest w/o warrant/capias”14 |
| $70 |
The second page carries forward the $120 subtotal from the previous page and lists the following additional costs, culminating in $294 as the “total amount owed“:
| $120 | “page 1 subtotal” |
| $133 | “consolidated court cost”15 |
| $4 | “jury reimbursement fee”16 |
| $25 | “DC records preservation”17 |
| $2 | “support of indg defense”18 |
| $6 | “support judiciary fee-state”19 |
| + $4 | “court technology fund”20 |
| $294 | “total amount owed” |
These fees and costs total $294, the same amount indicated in the judgment. The records provided by the district clerk demonstrate the itemization of these costs without any assessment for Cardenas‘s attorney‘s fees.
Since the supplementation of the record, Cardenas has not offered any argument that any of the identified costs are unauthorized, inapplicable, or otherwise improper. Indeed, as detailed above, each assessed cost is authorized by statute or rule, and the circumstances giving rise to each cost are confirmed by the record.21 Instead of challenging any particular cost, Cardenas has filed several postsubmission letters asserting the impropriety of permitting the record to be supplemented with itemization of the costs by means of a document created after the entry of judgment. Premised upon his contention that we may not consider the supplemental record, Cardenas has urged that we follow the precedents of other courts of appeals which have modified judgments to delete references to costs when the record did not include a bill of costs. In the previously discussed Johnson case, the Fourteenth Court of Appeals struck a trial court‘s assessment of “a specific dollar amount as court costs” because there was
Because we ordered the supplementation of the appellate record to request a bill of costs, the courts in Johnson, Tafolla, and Solomon confronted different procedural circumstances, and their reasoning is inapplicable to the circumstances before us. To the extent any party to those cases may have requested, or those courts may have considered, the justifications for ordering a supplemental record as explained in this opinion, none of those courts explained why supplementation is not authorized by article 103.006 and appellate rules 34.5 and 44.3, as we believe it is.
The supplemental record demonstrates the basis for an award of fees and costs totaling $294. No sum of money was improperly assessed as a cost for attorney‘s fees. Moreover, we emphasize that while the supplemental record has significantly guided our analysis, even without that roadmap the clerk‘s record generated in the trial court through the entry of judgment demonstrates facts and circumstances suf
Conclusion
We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
MICHAEL MASSENGALE
JUSTICE
