Cameron v. State

• Decision Date: 24 February 1999
• Docket Number: No. 04-97-00350-CR,04-97-00350-CR
• Citation: 988 S.W.2d 835
• Parties: Paul Houston CAMERON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 835

988 S.W.2d 835

Paul Houston CAMERON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 04-97-00350-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

San Antonio.

Feb. 24, 1999.

Lawrence L. Garcia, Garcia, Teneyuca & Reznicek, L.L.P., Teresa A. Oxford, Law Office of Teresa A. Oxford, San Antonio, for Appellant.

Barbara Hervey, Assistant Criminal District Attorney, San Antonio, for Appellee.

Before PHIL HARDBERGER, Chief Justice, ALMA L. LOPEZ, Justice and KAREN ANGELINI, Justice.

OPINION

PHIL HARDBERGER, Chief Justice.

Paul Houston Cameron appeals his capital murder conviction. In eight points of error, Cameron argues that the trial court erred: 1) by failing to quash his indictment under article 32.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure as untimely; 2) by allowing the contents of a written statement which had defective warnings to be read verbatim by the detective who took the statement as an oral custodial statement of the defendant; 3) by admitting evidence of an extraneous offense which Cameron claims is irrelevant under Texas Rules of Evidence 402, 403, and 404(b); 4) by failing to quash the indictment and/or incorrectly charging the jury regarding the requisite mental state for the offense of capital murder; and 5) by admitting statements Cameron made to a jail psychiatrist which were not for the purpose of medical diagnosis. We affirm.

I.

Cameron was charged with and convicted of capital murder in the death of Fabian Dominguez, a police officer. On January 14, 1995, Cameron, along with Johnathan Moore, Peter Dowdle, and Meredith Nichols, entered the home of Andrea Braden ¹ with the intent to commit burglary. Absent Meredith Nichols, the parties embarked upon a second trip to the home in the early hours of the morning. While the parties' car was parked in the driveway, Officer Dominguez, off-duty but in uniform, noticed the activity and blocked the car's path with his personal car. Moore was in the front passenger seat of the car, Cameron was in the back seat, and Dowdle was driving. Officer Dominguez emerged from his vehicle blocking the driveway, and, according to Cameron's statement, with his gun pulled, approached the passenger side of the car. He instructed the boys to turn off the car and give him the keys, and Dowdle did so. Moore then shot Officer Dominguez. Moore got the keys, and then shot Officer Dominguez several more times with the officer's own gun. Officer Dominguez died from his wounds.

On January 17, 1995, Cameron was arrested on the charge of capital murder. He was indicted on the charge of organized crime in conjunction with the death of Officer Dominguez on April 13, 1995. On October 5, 1995, Cameron was indicted on the charge of capital murder for the death of Officer Dominguez. Cameron was tried and convicted of capital murder, and sentenced to life in prison.

II.

In eight points of error, Cameron alleges that the trial court erred: 1) by failing to quash his indictment under article 32.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure as untimely; 2) by allowing the contents of a written statement which had defective warnings to be read verbatim by the detective who took the statement as an oral custodial statement of the defendant; 3) by admitting evidence of an extraneous offense which Cameron claims is irrelevant under Texas Rules of Evidence 402, 403, and 404(b); 4) by failing to quash the indictment and/or incorrectly charging the jury regarding the requisite mental state for the offense of capital murder; and 5) by admitting statements Cameron made to a jail psychiatrist which were not for the purpose of medical diagnosis.

A. UNTIMELY INDICTMENT

Cameron argues that the trial court erred by failing to quash his indictment under article 32.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure as untimely. He says that his indictment was untimely because, although he was arrested and charged with capital murder on January 17, 1995, he was not indicted on the charge of capital murder until October 5, 1995, which is in the fourth grand jury term following his arrest. The State's position is that Cameron was timely indicted on the charge of organized crime in conjunction with the death of Officer Dominguez on April 13, 1995, and because Cameron was timely indicted for one crime arising out of the same criminal transaction, the second indictment for capital murder is controlled by the timeliness of the first indictment. Cameron filed a motion to quash the capital murder indictment on February 21, 1997. The trial court ruled that article 32.01, read in conjunction with article 28.061, was unconstitutional.

The trial court's ruling on the constitutionality of the provisions is a question of law which we review de novo. Gonzalez v. State, 938 S.W.2d 482, 484 (Tex.App.--El Paso 1996, pet. ref'd). We review mixed questions of law and fact which do not turn on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor de novo. Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). The fact of the dates of the arrest and indictments are not in dispute. We review the trial court's ruling de novo. Frenzel v. State, 963 S.W.2d 911, 914 (Tex.App.--Waco 1998, pet. requested). At the time of Cameron's arrest, ² article 32.01 provided:

Defendant in Custody and No Indictment Presented.

When a defendant has been detained in custody or held to bail for his appearance to answer any criminal accusation before the district court, the prosecution, unless otherwise ordered by the court, for good cause shown, supported by affidavit, shall be dismissed and the bail discharged, if indictment or information be not presented against such defendant at the next term of court which is held after his commitment or admission to bail.

Act of May 27, 1965, 59th Leg., R.S., ch. 722 § 1, 1965 Tex.Gen.Laws 317, 441, (amended 1997) (current version at TEX.CODE CRIM.PROC.ANN. art. 32.01 (Vernon Supp.1999)).

The term of court for the 290th District Court is statutorily defined:

(a) The 290th Judicial District is composed of Bexar County.

(b) The 290th District Court shall give preference to criminal cases.

(c) (Repealed 1997)

(d) Section 24.139, relating to the 37th District Court, contains provisions applicable to all the district courts in Bexar County. To the extent that this subchapter is inconsistent with those provisions, section 24.139 prevails.

TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 24.467 (Vernon 1989 & Supp.1999).

At all times relevant to this appeal, ³ Section 24.139(d) provided, in pertinent part:

The 144th, 175th, 186th, 187th, 226th, 227th, and 290th district courts shall give preference to criminal cases. The terms of those district courts begin on the first Mondays in January, March, May, July, September and November. Each term continues until the court has disposed of the business for that term.

Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 480, § 1 (amended 1997) (current version at TEX. GOV'T CODE ANN. § 24.467 (Vernon Supp.1999)).

Cameron was arrested on January 17, 1995. He was timely indicted on the charge of organized crime on April 13, 1995. ⁴ Cameron does not contest this. But, he says the capital murder indictment in October was not timely. An untimely indictment would then require dismissal of the indictment pursuant to article 28.061 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. ⁵ In support of this position, Cameron relies on Ex parte Torres, 966 S.W.2d 723, 728 (Tex.App.--San Antonio 1998, pet. requested) (en banc); Ex parte Lawson, 966 S.W.2d 532, 536 (Tex.App.---San Antonio 1996, pet. requested)(en banc); State v. Ybarra, 942 S.W.2d 35, 38 (Tex.App.--Corpus Christi 1996), pet. dism'd, improvidently granted per curiam, Ex parte Ybarra, 977 S.W.2d 594 (Tex.Crim.App.1998); Norton v. State, 918 S.W.2d 25, 29 (Tex.App.--Houston [14th Dist.] 1996), pet. dism'd, improvidently granted per curiam, Ex parte Norton, 969 S.W.2d 3 (Tex.Crim.App.1998); and Ex parte Knight, 904 S.W.2d 722, 725 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1995, pet. ref'd).

The State's position is that because the first indictment is timely, the later indictment arising out of the same criminal conduct or transaction is also timely. The State relies on Granviel v. State, 723 S.W.2d 141, 150 (Tex.Crim.App.1986), where the Court of Criminal Appeals rejected the defendant's challenge to his capital murder conviction on speedy trial grounds, whereby he claimed that "the [trial] court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the instant indictment because the court was obliged to find the State not ready on the other indictments arising out of that single transaction."

The issue before us today is which indictment controls for timeliness purposes. It appears to be a case of first impression in Texas.

Article 32.01, standing alone, has survived constitutional challenge in the courts of appeal. See Torres, 966 S.W.2d at 728; Frenzel, 963 S.W.2d at 915; Ex parte Barnes, 959 S.W.2d 313, 316 (Tex.App.--Fort Worth 1997), pet. dism'd, improvidently granted per curiam, Nos. 400-98, 401-98, 402-98 (Tex.Crim.App. Jan. 27, 1999) (not designated for publication); Ex parte Mallares, 953 S.W.2d 759, 763 (Tex.App.--Austin 1997, no pet.); State v. Condran, 951 S.W.2d 178, 189 (Tex.App --Dallas 1997), pet. dism'd, improvidently granted per curiam, 977 S.W.2d 144 (Tex.Crim.App.1998); Norton, 918 S.W.2d at 29. Its counterpart in article 28.061, as amended in 1987 but before it was amended in 1997, ⁶ provided that the effect of an accused's successful challenge to an untimely indictment under article 32.01 was to prohibit "any further prosecution for the offense discharged and for any other offense arising out of the same transaction, other than an offense of a higher grade that the attorney representing the State and prosecuting the offense that was discharged does not have the primary duty to prosecute." Act of June 1, 1987, 70th Leg., R.S., ch. 383, § 1, 1987 Tex. Gen. Laws 1885 (amended 1997) (current version at TEX.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 28.061 (Vernon Supp.1999)). This section has been found...