Tarlton v. State
| Decision Date | 06 June 2002 |
| Docket Number | No. 14-00-01410-CR.,14-00-01410-CR. |
| Citation | 93 S.W.3d 168 |
| Parties | Theophilus Deboer TARLTON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
James L. Steele, Houston, for appellant. Kevin P. Keating, Houston, for appellee.
Panel consists of Justices YATES, EDELMAN, and DRAUGHN.*
Appellant, Theophilus Deboer Tarlton, was convicted of illegally disposing of used Oil. See TEX. WATER CODE ANN. § 7.176 (Vernon 2000). In seven issues, appellant asserts various defects in both the indictment and the statute under which he was convicted. He also asserts the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction. We affirm.
Appellant was charged by separate indictments with three counts of disposing of used oil and one count of disposing of hazardous waste. Appellant waived his right to a jury and pleaded not guilty. At the conclusion of the State's case-in-chief, the court granted appellant's motion for directed verdict on two of the charges of used-oil dumping and the hazardous-wastedisposal charge. At the close of evidence, the court found appellant guilty of illegally disposing of used oil. Following a hearing on punishment, the court sentenced appellant to five years' confinement and a $5,000 fine. The court then suspended the sentence and placed appellant on community supervision for five years.
We begin by examining the relevant criminal statute. Appellant was charged with committing an offense under section 7.176 of the Texas Water Code, "Violations Relating to Handling of Used Oil." TEX. WATER CODE ANN. § 7.176.1 Section 7.176(a)(2) provides that a person commits an offense if the person either (a) "knowingly mixes or commingles used oil with solid waste that is to be disposed of in landfills" or (b) "knowingly ... directly disposes of used oil on land or in landfills." Id. § 7.176(a)(2). However, subsection (a)(2) further provides that an offense is not committed if "the mixing or commingling of used oil with solid waste that is to be disposed of in landfills is incident to and the unavoidable result of the mechanical shredding of motor vehicles, appliances, or other items of scrap, used, or obsolete metals." Id.
The statute then provides two "exceptions" to its application. The first exception states that section 7.176 does not apply if a person "unknowingly disposes into the environment any used oil that has not been properly segregated or separated by the generator from other solid wastes." Id. § 7.176(b). The second exception provides that subsection (a)(2) does not apply if "the mixing or commingling of used oil with solid waste that is to be disposed of in landfills is incident to and the unavoidable result of the mechanical shredding of motor vehicles, appliances, or other items of scrap, used, or obsolete metals." Id. § 7.176(c).
In this case, the indictment alleged that on or about February 17, 1999, appellant "did then and there unlawfully, knowingly dispose of used oil on land located near 8215 Braniff." Appellant claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion to set aside this indictment on grounds that (1) the indictment failed to negate the exceptions in the statute on which the indictment was based, (2) the indictment failed to give appellant adequate notice to prepare his defense, (3) the indictment failed to give appellant adequate information to plead the judgment in bar to any subsequent prosecution, (4) the underlying statute is unconstitutionally vague because it fails to give notice of the conduct that is prohibited, (5) the underlying statute is unconstitutionally vague because it allows unbridled discretion in the enforcement of the statute, and (6) the underlying statute denies equal protection of the law by discriminating in its punishment provisions.
We review the trial court's ruling on a motion to set aside the indictment for an abuse of discretion. Thomas v. State, 621 S.W.2d 158, 163 (Tex.Crim.App.1981) (op. on reh'g); State v. Goldsberry, 14 S.W.3d 770, 772 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, pet. ref'd). A trial court abuses its discretion if it acts without reference to guiding rules and principles, or acts arbitrarily or unreasonably. Lyles v. State, 850 S.W.2d 497, 502 (Tex.Crim.App. 1993).
In his first issue, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to set aside the indictment because it fails to negate the two exceptions set forth in the statute. The State must negate the existence of any exception to an offense in the indictment. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 2.02(b) (Vernon 1994). The negation of an exception to an offense constitutes an element of the offense. Id. § 1.07(a)(22); Tobias v. State, 884 S.W.2d 571, 578 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1994, pet. ref'd). However, the State need not expressly negate an exception in the indictment; it may do so implicitly. See Kohler v. State, 713 S.W.2d 141, 144 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 1986, pet. ref'd); Priego v. State, 658 S.W.2d 655, 659 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1983, no pet.) (both holding that the State's use of the term "parent" in an indictment to describe the defendant's relationship to a child implicitly negated an exception to liability for individuals who relinquished their parental rights or had them terminated by a judicial order).
Here, we find the indictment implicitly negated both exceptions set forth in section 7.176. By alleging in the indictment that appellant acted "knowingly," the State negated the first exception, which states the statute does not apply to one who "unknowingly disposes" of certain products into the environment. TEX. WATER CODE ANN. § 7.176(b) (emphasis added). The indictment also alleged that appellant disposed of used oil "on land." Thus, the State implicitly negated the second exception, which provides that section 7.176(a)(2) does not apply if "the mixing or commingling of used oil with solid waste that is to be disposed of in landfills is incident to and the unavoidable result of the mechanical shredding of motor vehicles, appliances, or other items of scrap, used, or obsolete metals." See id. § 7.176(c) (emphasis added).
Furthermore, the State was not required to negate the second exception because it did not apply to the offense with which appellant was charged. Although section 7.176(c) states that it applies to subsection (a)(2), that subsection prohibits two distinct types of conduct: (a) mixing or commingling used oil with solid waste that is to be disposed of in landfills and (b) directly disposing of used oil on land or in landfills. By its plain language, section 7.176(c) applies only to offenses arising from the "mixing or commingling of used oil with solid waste that is to be disposed of in landfills." Id. The State did not charge appellant with an offense based on such "mixing or commingling." Rather, the State charged appellant with the offense of directly disposing of used oil on land.
Appellant contends the second exception applies to his charged offense because the term "on land" encompasses the term "in landfills." We disagree. Neither "land" nor "landfill" is defined in the Texas Water Code. Undefined words in statutes are given their plain meaning unless the statute clearly shows that they were used in another sense. Daniels v. State, 754 S.W.2d 214, 219 (Tex.Crim.App. 1988); Weyandt v. State, 35 S.W.3d 144, 155 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2000, no pet.). Statutory words are to be read in context and construed according to the rules of grammar and common usage. Weyandt, 35 S.W.3d at 155.
The plain meaning of "land" is "the solid part of the surface of the earth." WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY 1268 (1993). A "landfill" is defined as "disposal of trash and garbage by burying it under layers of earth in low ground." Id. Disposal of waste "in landfills" describes a specific method of waste disposal that is distinct from direct disposal "on land." Furthermore, under appellant's construction of the statute, it would have been redundant for the Legislature to refer to conduct occurring either "on land or in landfills." TEX. WATER CODE ANN. § 7.176(a)(2) (emphasis added). If at all possible, we construe a statute in a way that gives effect to all its parts, so that no part is construed as void or redundant. Badgett v. State, 42 S.W.3d 136, 139 (Tex. Crim.App.2001). Appellant's first issue is overruled.
Appellant's third and fourth issues address the sufficiency of the language in the indictment. In his third issue, appellant claims the indictment failed to give him adequate notice to prepare his defense. In his fourth issue, appellant claims the indictment failed to give him adequate information to plead the judgment in bar to any subsequent prosecution for the same offense. In support of both of these issues, appellant contends the indictment (1) gave insufficient notice of the particular statutory provision under which he was being charged and (2) contained an inadequate description of the method of appellant's alleged disposal of used oil.
An indictment is deemed sufficient if it "charges the commission of the offense in ordinary and concise language in such a manner as to enable a person of common understanding to know what is meant, and with that degree of certainty that will give the defendant notice of the particular offense with which he is charged." TEX.CODE GRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 21.11 (Vernon 1989). The indictment must give a defendant sufficient notice to prepare a defense, and it must be sufficiently certain to enable a defendant to plead the judgment in bar. State v. Mays, 967 S.W.2d 404, 406 (Tex.Crim.App.1998). A motion to quash should be granted when the language in the charging instrument concerning the defendant's...
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