Mapes v. State

• Citation: 187 S.W.3d 655
• Decision Date: 07 February 2006
• Docket Number: No. 14-04-00631-CR.,14-04-00631-CR.
• Parties: Michael Cadett MAPES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas

187 S.W.3d 655

Michael Cadett MAPES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 14-04-00631-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Houston (14th Dist.).

February 7, 2006.

Rehearing Overruled April 6, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

James L. Steele, Houston, for appellants.

Dan McCrory, Houston, for appellees.

Panel consists of Chief Justice HEDGES and Justices FOWLER and FROST.

MAJORITY OPINION

ADELE HEDGES, Chief Justice.

Appellant Michael Cadett Mapes appeals his conviction for felony driving while intoxicated (DWI). In two points of error, appellant complains that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash a jurisdictional paragraph and his motion for directed verdict. We affirm.

Background

Appellant was charged with DWI in 2003. The indictment alleged two previous DWI convictions to enhance the 2003 offense to felony DWI under Section 49.09(b)(2) of the Texas Penal Code. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 49.09(b)(2) (Vernon 2003).¹ Claiming that his 2000 conviction is void, appellant timely filed a Motion to Quash a Jurisdictional Paragraph of the Indictment, which the trial court denied. At the close of the State's evidence, appellant moved for a directed verdict. At the close of all the evidence, the trial court found appellant guilty as charged in the indictment and sentenced appellant to two years' confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

In his first point of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash a jurisdictional paragraph. Appellant argues that because the punishment assessed in his 2000 DWI conviction fell below the statutorily-authorized range, the 2000 conviction is void and therefore cannot be used to elevate his 2003 offense to a felony.² According to appellant, the district court lacked jurisdiction because district courts have jurisdiction only over felony DWI offenses; appellant's 2003 offense was not a felony because the void 2000 conviction could not be used to enhance.³ We review a trial court's ruling on a motion to quash de novo. State v. Moff, 154 S.W.3d 599, 601 (Tex.Crim.App.2004).

In his second point of error, appellant alleges that the trial court erred when it denied his motion for a directed verdict because the evidence was legally insufficient to support his conviction. We treat a complaint about a trial court's failure to grant a motion for directed verdict as a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence. Williams v. State, 937 S.W.2d 479, 482 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). In evaluating the legal sufficiency of the evidence, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Vasquez v. State, 67 S.W.3d 229, 236 (Tex. Crim.App.2002).

We will consider both of appellant's points of error together.

Punishment and Void Convictions

In Texas, the punishment assessed must always be within the minimum and maximum fixed by law; if the punishment assessed is less than the minimum provided by law, the judgment of conviction is rendered a nullity. Mizell v. State, 119 S.W.3d 804, 806 (Tex.Crim.App.2003); Wilson v. State, 677 S.W.2d 518, 524 (Tex. Crim.App.1984). Texas courts consistently have held convictions to be void when prior enhancing convictions were also void. See Wilson, 677 S.W.2d at 524 (finding that a prior conviction was void because it fell below the statutory range of punishment); Ex Parte Burt, 499 S.W.2d 109, 110 (Tex. Crim.App.1973) (stating that earlier enhancing convictions were void because appellant was indigent, was not represented by counsel, and had not waived his right to counsel); Renshaw v. State, 981 S.W.2d 464, 466 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 1998, pet. ref'd) (finding conviction void because State did not prove prior convictions at trial); State v. Kindred, 773 S.W.2d 766, 768 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1989, no pet.) (finding that earlier convictions were not final and were therefore void).

DWI Offenses: Classification, Punishment, and Jurisdiction

Texas Penal Code Section 49.04(b) classifies the offense of DWI as a Class B misdemeanor and requires a minimum punishment of seventy-two hours' confinement. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 49.04(b). The maximum term of confinement for a Class B misdemeanor is 180 days. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 12.22 (Vernon 2003). The offense of DWI enhanced by one previous DWI conviction becomes a Class A misdemeanor and requires a minimum term of confinement of thirty days. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 49.09(a) (Vernon 2003). The maximum term of confinement for a Class A misdemeanor is one year. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 12.21 (Vernon 2003). The offense of DWI enhanced by two previous DWI convictions becomes a third degree felony. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 49.09(b)(2). The two prior DWI convictions are jurisdictional elements of a felony DWI offense, and they must be proved to obtain a felony DWI conviction. Barfield v. State, 63 S.W.3d 446, 448 (Tex.Crim. App.2001). Class A and B misdemeanor DWI offenses are tried in the county courts, while felony DWI offenses are tried in either the district courts or the criminal district courts. TEX.CODE CRIM. PROC. ANN. arts. 4.05, 4.07 (Vernon 2005).

Appellant's 2000 DWI

Appellant pleaded guilty to DWI in 2000. The information for that conviction described a 1993 conviction for DWI, which elevated the 2000 conviction from a Class B to a Class A misdemeanor. TEX PEN.CODE ANN. § 49.04(a) (Vernon 2003). Appellant states that in his 2000 guilty plea, the judge admonished that the maximum punishment for his offense was one year, which comports with the maximum Class A misdemeanor punishment. On the 2000 judgment, the judge checked the box denoting "misdemeanor" and circled the letter "A" for class of misdemeanor, as opposed to "B" or "C." However, the judge imposed a punishment of only twenty-four days, which falls below the minimum punishment required by statute, and also circled "N/A" for the "Plea to Enhancement Paragraph(s)" and the "Findings on Enhancement(s)" sections.

Clearly, the imposed twenty-four day confinement falls below the minimum thirty-day confinement required by statute for Class A misdemeanor DWIs. The judge's designation of "Misdemeanor Class A" combined with the twenty-four day punishment period indicates that appellant was convicted of a Class A misdemeanor DWI but was sentenced outside the statutory range for such an offense. Because the twenty-four day sentence falls below the statutory minimum, appellant's 2000 DWI conviction is void. Mizell, 119 S.W.3d at 806; Wilson, 677 S.W.2d at 524.

The State argues that appellant was actually convicted of a Class B misdemeanor DWI because the judge circled "N/A" under both the "Plea to Enhancement Paragraph(s)" and "Findings on Enhancement(s)" sections on the 2000 judgment. The State contends that these notations indicate that appellant's 2000 DWI conviction was not enhanced by his 1993 DWI conviction and that the judge must have circled "A" in the "Misdemeanor Class" section by mistake. The State alleges that because appellant's non-enhanced 2000 DWI conviction was a Class B misdemeanor, the twenty-four day sentence fell within the applicable seventy-two hour to 180-day statutory range. However, the State's analysis is misguided.

The State appears to interpret Penal Code Section 49.09 as a punishment enhancement statute analogous to Penal Code Sections 12.43 and 12.42, which describe the penalties for repeat and habitual felony and misdemeanor offenders. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. §§ 12.42, 12.43 (Vernon 2003). However, Texas courts have drawn a clear distinction between enhancement of a punishment and enhancement of a DWI offense. Gibson v. State, 995 S.W.2d 693, 696 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). As the Court of Criminal Appeals explained in Gibson:

The prior intoxication-related offenses, whether they are felonies or misdemeanors, serve the purpose of establishing whether the instant offense qualifies as felony driving while intoxicated. The prior intoxication-related offenses are elements of the offense of driving while intoxicated.

Id. The court then concluded that "prior intoxication-related convictions serve the purpose of enhancing the offense in Section 49.09(b) whereas prior convictions used in Section 12.42(d) serve the purpose of enhancing punishment" and further noted that Section 49.09(b) should not be viewed as a punishment-enhancement statute like Section 12.42(d). Id.; see also Martin v. State, 84 S.W.3d 267, 268-69 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2002, pet. ref'd). Thus, two prior DWI convictions are required elements of the offense of felony DWI under Section 49.09(b), and the punishment enhancements under Sections 12.42 and 12.43 do not apply in the felony DWI context. Gibson, 995 S.W.2d at 696; see also Weaver v. State, 87 S.W.3d 557, 560 (Tex.Crim.App.2002); Barfield, 63 S.W.3d at 448. Likewise, one prior DWI is a required element of the offense of Class A misdemeanor DWI under Section 49.09(a), to which the punishment enhancements under Sections 12.42 and 12.43 do not apply. Gibson, 995 S.W.2d at 696. Because the punishment enhancements in Sections 12.42 and 12.43 are inapplicable in the context of enhanced DWI offenses, pleas and findings regarding punishment enhancements are unnecessary. See Barfield, 63 S.W.3d at 448 (stating that separate plea to enhancement paragraphs was unnecessary in felony DWI case because previous DWI convictions are elements of the felony DWI offense).

Consequently, rather than indicating that appellant had been convicted of a Class B misdemeanor, the trial judge's notation of "N/A" in the enhancement sections of the 2000 DWI judgment reflects that enhancement pleas and findings were inapplicable and unnecessary in that case. This interpretation of the judgment is also consistent with the trial judge having classified the offense as a Class A misdemeanor. In light of the above precedent and...