Ex parte Woods, 44919
| Decision Date | 26 July 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 44919,44919 |
| Citation | 483 S.W.2d 464 |
| Parties | Ex parte William Ray WOODS. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Thomas J. Griffith, Daniel H. Benson, Lubbock, for appellant.
Jim Vollers, State's Atty., Robert A. Huttash, Asst. State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
ON PETITIONER'S MOTION FOR REHEARING
Our opinion on original submission is withdrawn and the following is substituted in lieu thereof.
This is a habeas corpus proceeding under Article 11.07, Vernon's Ann.C.C.P., and in accordance with Ex parte Young, Tex.Cr.App., 418 S.W.2d 824, in which petitioner seeks his release from confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections. He was represented by counsel at his 1951 trial, where he entered a plea of not guilty before a jury for the offense of murder with malice. The jury found him guilty of the offense, and punishment was assessed at fifty years. No appeal was taken.
Petitioner challenges his conviction on the ground that the grand jury which returned the indictment in this cause (No. 718) was illegally constituted and chosen. His contention is that members of the Negro race were deliberately excluded from grand jury service in Garza County.
The record reflects that appellant was tried in October, 1951, in Cause No. 718. A mistrial was declared because the jury was unable to agree upon a verdict. The grand jury then re-indicted appellant for the same offense in Cause No. 736, 1 with a subsequent re-indictment in Cause No. 739.
A hearing was held on petitioner's application before the Honorable Truett Smith, Judge of the 106th District Court of Garza County. At the conclusion of such hearing, the trial judge made findings of fact which include the following:
We agree with the finding of the trial court that petitioner has not shown that members of the Negro race were systematically excluded from a grand jury during the years 1950 and 1951. Jaquez v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 473 S.W.2d 530. To the contrary, the record reflects that the grand jury panel which indicted him on November 17, 1950, in Cause No. 739, had one Negro member.
Even assuming Arguendo the validity of appellant's challenge to the indictment in Cause No. 718, appellant has...
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Woods v. Beto
...30, 1971, with supporting findings of fact and conclusions of law, and the Court of Criminal Appeals of the State of Texas in Ex parte Woods, 483 S.W.2d 464, on July 26, 1972 further denied petitioner's right to relief. The application now under consideration was then filed on behalf of pet......
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Partida v. State, 47743
...of racial discrimination in the composition of the grand jury that indicted him, to-wit, the March, 1972, grand jury. See Ex parte Woods, Tex.Cr.App., 483 S.W.2d 464. What is reflected by the record in regard to racial discrimination in the March, 1972, grand The foreman of that grand jury ......
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Zapata v. State, 45782
...that three Mexican Americans served on the grand jury which indicted appellant. We perceive no harm to appellant. See Ex parte Woods, Tex.Cr.App., 483 S.W.2d 464, and Jaquez v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 473 S.W.2d The appellant next contends that the prosecutor suppressed evidence. She argues tha......