McQueen v. State, 01-85-0212-CR

Decision Date31 December 1985
Docket NumberNo. 01-85-0212-CR,01-85-0212-CR
Citation702 S.W.2d 302
PartiesJeanie McQUEEN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. (1st Dist.)
CourtTexas Court of Appeals

Leonard N. Barksdale, Houston, for appellant.

John B. Holmes, Jr., Harris County Dist. Atty., Timothy G. Taft, Vic Wisner, Harris County Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, for appellee.

Before EVANS, C.J., and COHEN and LEVY, JJ.

OPINION

EVANS, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a conviction of theft. A jury found appellant guilty and assessed punishment at seven days confinement in the county jail and a fine of $200. We affirm.

In her sole ground of error, appellant contends that she received ineffective assistance of trial counsel, because her trial counsel failed to request that a court reporter be present to prepare a record of the trial proceedings, pursuant to Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. art. 40.09(4) (Vernon 1979). Appellant alleges that such failure has prevented her from an effective appeal, because there is now no way of ascertaining what error, if any, occurred during trial.

In order for this Court to consider appellant's complaint, the record must be complete on the issue urged. Mathews v. State, 635 S.W.2d 532, 537 (Tex.Crim.App.1982). If the record reveals that trial counsel did not request a court reporter pursuant to article 40.09(4), then appellant has established a predicate for review. But the appellant's allegations in her brief, which are unsupported by the record and to which appellant made no objections, cannot be considered on appeal. Reyes v. State, 647 S.W.2d 255, 256 (Tex.Crim.App.1983); see Beck v. State, 573 S.W.2d 786, 788 (Tex.Crim.App.1978).

The record is silent regarding any affirmative request by trial counsel for a court reporter to take notes of the trial proceeding. The record reveals only that the appellant's counsel on appeal filed a motion for new trial on March 1, 1985, alleging that the "evidence adduced at trial was insufficient to sustain a guilty verdict." No mention was made in that motion of trial counsel's alleged failure to request a court reporter. On March 26, 1985, appellate counsel filed a designation of materials, requesting "a transcription of the voir dire examination of the jury panel" and "a transcription of the entire Statement of Facts...." After receiving notice from the district clerk's office that the time for filing the statement of facts had expired and that the record had been completed without a statement of facts, appellate counsel did not file an objection to the appellate record, pursuant to Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. art. 40.09(7) (Vernon Supp.1985). Neither did appellate counsel file a formal bill of exception pursuant to art. 40.09(6), which provides in pertinent part:

(a) A party desiring to have the record disclose some action, testimony, evidence, proceeding, objection, exception or other event or occurrence not otherwise shown by the record may utilize a bill of exception for this purpose....

(b) A bill of exception shall be a necessary predicate for appellate review only if the matter complained of is not otherwise shown by the record....

Under this state of the record, we cannot determine if appellant's trial counsel failed to request a court reporter at trial, as appellant alleges. This Court cannot speculate as to what actually transpired at trial. The appellant's counsel...

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11 cases
  • Smith v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • 19 de maio de 1988
    ...not per se ineffective representation without showing of harm), cf., McClendon v. State, 643 S.W.2d 936 (Tex.Crim.App.1982); McQueen v. State, 702 S.W.2d 302 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, no pet.). Appellant has not demonstrated that he was prejudiced to the extent that there was a r......
  • Young v. State
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • 16 de maio de 2012
    ...no pet.). When counsel fails to request a court reporter, this court will not speculate as to what actually transpired. See McQueen v. State, 702 S.W.2d 302, 304 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, no pet.); Booher v. State, 668 S.W.2d 882, 885 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1984, pet. ref ......
  • Carey v. State, No. 06-07-00066-CR (Tex. App. 11/16/2007)
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • 16 de novembro de 2007
    ...to the one addressed and, ultimately, rejected in Gonzales v. State, 732 S.W.2d 67, 68 (Tex. App.-Austin 1987, no pet.), and McQueen v. State, 702 S.W.2d 302, 303 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, no pet.). In response to this contention, the Austin court explained as Initially, appellan......
  • Swinnie v. State, No. 05-08-01076-CR (Tex. App. 7/10/2009)
    • United States
    • Texas Court of Appeals
    • 10 de julho de 2009
    ...in the appellate record."). Accordingly, appellant has failed to preserve his argument for appellate review. See e.g., McQueen v. State, 702 S.W.2d 302, 302 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, no pet.) (court's consideration of appellate complaint requires that record be complete on issue ......
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