Findley v. State

• Decision Date: 11 March 1964
• Docket Number: No. 36672,36672
• Parties: Edward W. FINDLEY, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

Page 850

378 S.W.2d 850

Edward W. FINDLEY, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 36672.

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas.

March 11, 1964.

Rehearing Denied April 29, 1964.

Second Motion for Rehearing Denied June 3, 1964.

John W. O'Dowd, Houston, for appellant.

Frank Briscoe, Dist. Atty., Carl E. F. Dally, James C. Brough and Edward N. Shaw, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, and Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

MORRISON, Judge.

The offense is burglary with a prior conviction for burglary alleged for enhancement; the punishment, 12 years.

Appellant's written confession, the voluntary nature of which was vouched for by Officer Hurst, as well as his oral confession made to Office Spivey, which resulted in the recovery of some of the stolen jewelry, reveal that on the night in question appellant, in company with his brother, David, and one Melvin Barnard, was driving around looking for a place to burglarize; that they stopped at the Rose Jewelry on Harrisburg, kicked out both show windows and each participant took some rings and watches and then fled. Appellant was arrested two days later, told the officers where they might recover his part of the stolen property, which they immediately proceeded to do, and then returned to the police station, where the written confession was made.

Appellant's uncle, with whom he resided, testified that appellant and his brother returned home in the early morning following the night in question, that he noticed a ring and watch on appellant's hand and arm, and that when he asked where he had gotten the same, appellant replied, 'We kicked out a window * * *' at '* * * a jewelry store.'

Rose, the owner of the store, testified that he was awakened during the night in question and that when he arrived at his store, he found that two display windows had been broken into and some jewelry was missing.

Melvin Barnard, upon being granted immunity, testified to substantially the same facts set forth in appellant's confession.

Appellant, testifying in his own behalf, denied that he had made any confession at all, admitted that he had signed the instrument introduced in evidence, but said that he did so because the officers threatened to treat him as they had some years ago when he was apprehended for the burglary charged in the second paragraph of the indictment.

The prior conviction was established.

The voluntary nature of the confession was submitted to the jury in the court's charge, and since it was clearly not inadmissible as a matter of law, we find the evidence sufficient to support the conviction.

Only two questions are raised on appeal. It is first contended that the court erred in receiving a verdict which appellant contends is vague and indefinite and unintelligible. The indictment in the first paragraph charged the commission of the offense of burglary alleged to have occurred on January 17, 1963. The second paragraph recited that prior to the commission of the aforesaid offense, appellant, in cause #91490 in a named court, was granted adult probation for the offense of burglary for a period of three years. It then lists the conditions of such probation, and this is followed by the recitation that appellant subsequently violated the terms of his probation, and that on November 10, 1961, said probation was revoked and the sentence was put into effect, and said conviction was a final conviction.

The verdict was as follows:

'We, the Jury find the Defendant guilty of Burglary as charged and further find that he was formerly given adult probation for the burglary and that same was revoked and that same was a final conviction. Foreman M. E. Lesser.'

It is appellant's contention that because of the inclusion of the word 'the' before the word 'burglary' the verdict could be construed to mean that the jury found that appellant had already been found guilty of the burglary set forth in the first paragraph, that he had been given probation, and that probation had been revoked, which would be tantamount to a finding of double jeopardy. Cooper v. State, 136 Tex.Cr.R 498, 126 S.W.2d 974, and Alston v. State, 154 Tex.Cr.R. 148, 226 S.W.2d 443, upon which appellant relies, do not support such an interpretation, nor are they authority for his contention that the verdict is unintelligible It is clear to us that the jury were referring to the burglary set forth in the second count. This is especially true because of appellant's judicial admission that he had been...