Robles v. State
Decision Date | 15 February 1984 |
Docket Number | No. 488-83,488-83 |
Citation | 664 S.W.2d 91 |
Parties | Freddy Albert Cardenas ROBLES, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Donald W. Rogers, Jr., Houston, for appellant.
John B. Holmes, Jr., Dist. Atty. and Winston E. Cochran, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., Houston, Robert Huttash, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
Before the court en banc.
OPINION ON APPELLANT'S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
Appellant was convicted of burglary of a habitation with intent to commit theft. The Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction. Appellant's petition for discretionary review was granted to consider appellant's challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to prove entry with intent to commit theft as alleged.
The opinion of the Court of Appeals accurately summarized the facts shown at trial:
It is clear that appellant entered the habitation with intent to complete a criminal scheme that had as its ultimate purpose to obtain money from the First City National Bank. The resolution of the issue, i.e., whether the evidence proves the element of the burglary alleged that appellant entered with intent to commit theft, must be determined by the meaning of the burglary statute. V.T.C.A., Penal Code Sec. 30.02 provides in relevant part:
Appellant contends burglary with intent to commit theft requires an intent to appropriate property from within the burglarized premises. The Court of Appeals held to the contrary:
The following paragraph and citations constitute the entire argument by appellant presented to this Court on the issue under consideration:
First, we note that appellant mistates the holding of the Court of Appeals. That court did not hold that any intent to commit theft "irrespective of connection with or proximity to the entered premises" is sufficient. To the contrary, the Court of Appeals specifically held there was shown "a clear connection between the entry and the intent to steal, since gaining entry was critical to the success of the appellant's plan to extort the money."
We also find that none of the cases cited by appellant held that the intent to commit theft required for burglary means an intent to steal from the burglarized premises. The earliest case, however, does contain some language that appears to support appellant's position. In Simms v. State, 2 Tex.App. 110, the Court found reversible error for failure of the trial court to charge the law applicable to the case. In reaching this conclusion the Court examined recent amendments to the law of burglary, theft, and theft from a house:
Appellant apparently would read the words "to enter a house with intent to steal therefrom constitutes the crime of burglary" (emphasis added) to mean that it was necessary to show intent to steal therefrom in order to establish burglary. Taken in the context of the explanation being given in that opinion of the statutory changes that had been enacted, we do not agree with such an interpretation of Simms. To say that "to enter a house with intent to steal therefrom" is sufficient to constitute burglary does not mean an intent to steal therefrom is necessary to constitute burglary. In the setting of Simms we are of the opinion the Court was stating facts sufficient, not facts necessary, to constitute burglary.
In Thommen v. State, 505 S.W.2d 900 (Tex.Cr.App.1974), on appeal from a conviction for burglary under the former Penal Code, the Court stated:
We agree with the Court on Thommen and with the Court of Appeals in this case that the issue turns on the specific language of the burglary statute. As currently defined in Sec. 30.02, supra, burglary may be shown by unlawful entry with intent to commit theft. The statute does not expressly require an intent to steal property from within the burglarized premises and we hold there is no such requirement. We hold it is only necessary to prove that the unlawful entry was made for the purpose of furthering commission of the intended theft.
The intent with which appellant entered the habitation is a fact question for the jury to decide from the surrounding circumstances. Stearn v....
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