Ex parte Collier
| Decision Date | 17 October 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 25605,25605 |
| Citation | 243 S.W.2d 177,156 Tex.Crim. 377 |
| Parties | Ex parte COLLIER. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
George P. Blackburn, State's Atty., of Austin, for the State.
This is an original application for a writ of habeas corpus brought by the relator, Don R. Collier, seeking his release from the Texas Prison System.
The record shows that relator was on October 27, 1948, in Cause No. 60437, in the Criminal District Court of Harris County, Texas, sentenced to serve a term of two years. On October 29, 1948, in Cause No. 60436 in the Criminal District Court No. 2 of Harris County, relator was sentenced to serve 'not less than two nor more than three years,' such sentence to be cumulative with No. 60437 above.
On the same day, in the same court, in Cause No. 60438 relator was sentenced to serve not less than two nor more than three years.
Relator does not question his lawful detention under the above sentences claiming that he has now served them.
On January 27, 1949, in Causes Nos. 48559 and 48560 in the Criminal District Court No. 2 of Tarrant County, Texas, relator was sentenced to two years in each case to run concurrently. Both sentences contain the following order: 'It is further ordered that the punishment under this sentence shall begin when the Judgment and sentence now being served by Don R. Collier, in Causes Nos. 60436, 60437 and 60438, in the Criminal District Court of Harris County, Texas, have ceased to operate.'
Relator attacks this cumulation on the grounds that the same is indefinite and cites us to Bland v. State, 145 Tex.Cr.R. 267, 167 S.W.2d 761, and Ex parte Johnson, 153 Tex.Cr.R. 114, 218 S.W.2d 200, in support of his contention.
In the Bland case we held that an Ellis County District Court could not cumulate a Kaufman County sentence by a mere reference to the County of Kaufman alone. We have followed this holding in Ex parte Ball, Tex.Cr.App., 235 S.W.2d 652. The Bland case further reiterated the elementary rule that a court was without authority to cumulate a sentence he was pronouncing with any case then pending against the convict but in which he had not yet been tried.
In the Johnson case we held that the Criminal District Court of Harris County could not cumulate by the mere reference to a sentence from Hardin County.
The reason for this rule is that the sentence is a final judgment and should be sufficient on its face to effect its purpose without resort to evidence in aid thereof. It should further convey to the penitentiary...
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Ex parte Lewis, 40331
...to incorporate in their cumulative sentences a full description of the prior conviction in the interest of accuracy. Ex parte Collier, 156 Tex.Cr.R. 377, 243 S.W.2d 177. In Ex parte Hamilton, 163 Tex.Cr.R. 283, 290 S.W.2d 673, it was pointed out that an order of cumulation should (a) the nu......
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Ex parte March
...conviction was had, 3. The date of the prior conviction, and 4. The term of years assessed in the prior case. See also Ex parte Collier, 156 Tex.Cr.R. 377, 243 S.W.2d 177; Ex parte Richmond, 163 Tex.Cr.R. 321, 290 S.W.2d 909; Ex parte Cox, 29 Tex.App. 84, 14 S.W. 396. Only recently in Ex pa......
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Ex parte Bazemore
...Corrections clear and unequivocal order of the District Court of Comal County how long to detain the applicant herein. Ex parte Collier, 156 Tex.Cr.R. 377, 243 S.W.2d 177. The conclusions of law of the district judge that petitioner is now unlawfully confined is not binding on this court. E......
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Williams v. State
...convey when and how long appellant is to be detained. Ex parte Jordan, 562 S.W.2d 483 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); see also Ex parte Collier, 156 Tex.Cr.R. 377, 243 S.W.2d 177 (1951). Because the cumulation order is void, it must be set aside; the sentence in this cause must begin on the day it was o......