Apodaca v. State
| Decision Date | 31 October 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 1,No. 55586,55586,1 |
| Citation | 589 S.W.2d 696 |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
| Parties | Richard APODACA, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee |
Before ONION, P. J., and ROBERTS and W. C. DAVIS, JJ.
This is an appeal from a conviction for voluntary manslaughter. Appellant was indicted for murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense, and assessed his punishment at fifteen years in the Texas Department of Corrections.
The record reflects that in January of 1976, appellant was riding with John Lewis in Lewis' car. Lewis was driving. They confronted the deceased and an argument between Lewis and the deceased ensued. The deceased drove away in his truck and Lewis chased him. Lewis and appellant thereafter chased the truck on the highway at high rates of speed. At some times during the chase, appellant leaned out of Lewis' car and beat on the truck with a tire tool. Some time thereafter, Lewis' car hit the truck, knocking it into a guard rail. The deceased was killed in the crash and the truck subsequently caught fire and burned. Lewis and appellant drove away from the scene and agreed to "keep quiet" about what had occurred.
In his first ground of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in its charge to the jury. Specifically, he contends that the charge, over his objection, failed to apply the law of parties to the facts. We agree.
V.T.C.A. Penal Code, Section 7.02, provides in part that:
The State's theory of prosecution was that appellant was criminally responsible for the acts of Lewis in causing the wreck which killed the deceased.
The trial court charged the jury:
1
In applying the law to the facts of the instant case, the trial court charged the jury:
"Now, therefore, if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about January 12, 1976, in El Paso County, Texas, the Defendant, Richard Apodaca, as a principal, either (1) caused the death of Edward Figueroa, by driving a motor vehicle, to wit: an automobile, into and causing it to collide with a motor vehicle, to wit: a pickup truck, driven by the said Edward Figueroa, or (2) as a principal, intended to cause serious bodily injury and committed an act clearly dangerous to human life, to wit: drove a motor vehicle, to wit: an automobile, into and causing it to collide with a motor vehicle, to wit: a pickup truck, driven by the said Edward Figueroa that caused his death, you will in either of such cases find the said Defendant guilty of Murder as charged in the Indictment . . ."
A similar charge was given on the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter "Now, therefore, if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about January 12, 1976, in El Paso County, Texas, the Defendant, as a principal, acting under the immediate influence of sudden passion, arising from an adequate cause, intentionally or knowingly, either (1) caused the death of Edward Figueroa, by driving a motor vehicle, to wit: an automobile, into and causing it to collide with a motor vehicle, to wit: a pickup truck, driven by the said Edward Figueroa, or (2) intended to cause serious bodily injury, as a principal, and committed an act clearly dangerous to human life, to wit: drove a motor vehicle, to wit: an automobile, into and causing it to collide with a motor vehicle, to wit: a pcikup (sic) truck, driven by the said Edward Figueroa that caused his death, you will in either of such cases find the Defendant guilty of Voluntary Manslaughter."
Appellant properly and timely objected to the court's charge, and requested that the court charge the jury:
"Now, therefore, if you believe from the evidence beyond a...
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Wallace v. State
...of the law of parties to the facts of the case, appellant's objection would be sound and the error reversible. Apodaca v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 589 S.W.2d 696. The charge, however, does include an application of the law of parties under V.T.C.A., Penal Code Sec. 7.02(b) to the facts of the ca......
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Jones v. State
...v. State, 145 Tex.Crim. 163, 166 S.W.2d 708 (1942); Crisp v. State, 125 Tex.Crim. 603, 69 S.W.2d 772 (1934). See also, Apodaca v. State, 589 S.W.2d 696 (Tex.Cr.App.1979); and Harris v. State, 522 S.W.2d 199, 202 (Tex.Cr.App.1975) and cases cited This line of cases has been referred to as th......
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Starkey v. State
...charge, the court charged the jury in accordance with TEX.PENAL CODE ANN. §§ 7.01, 7.02 (Vernon 1974). As required by Apodaca v. State, 589 S.W.2d 696 (Tex.Crim.App.1979), the court submitted the following two paragraphs applying the law of parties to the facts of the Now if you find from t......
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Walker v. State
...Rasmussen v. State, 608 S.W.2d 205, at 207-208 (Tex.Cr.App.1980) (Opinion on Original Submission); Apodaca v. State, 589 S.W.2d 696, at 698 (Tex.Cr.App.1979); Savant v. State, 544 S.W.2d 408 (Tex.Cr.App.1976); Harris v. State, 522 S.W.2d 199, at 202 (Tex.Cr.App.1975); McCuin v. State, 505 S......
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Table of cases
...585 (Tex. Crim. App. 1985) 6:390.a Anthony v. State 628 S.W.2d 151 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1982, no pet.) 8:901 Apodaca v. State 589 S.W.2d 696 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1979) 2:80 Apprendi v. New Jersey 120 S.Ct. 2348 (2000) 6:420 Arevalo v. State 943 S.W.2d 887 (Tex. Crim. App.......
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Criminal responsibility - parties to crime
...charge applying the law of parties to the facts waives error. Romo v. State , 568 S.W.2d 298 (Tex.Crim.App. 1977). In Apodaca v. State , 589 S.W.2d 696 (Tex.Crim. App. 1979), defendant specially requested a charge (which he submitted to the court) wherein the defendant was shown to be an ai......