Thomas v. State
| Decision Date | 14 October 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 43073,43073 |
| Citation | 458 S.W.2d 817 |
| Parties | Richard Leon THOMAS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Dalton Gandy, Fort Worth, for appellant.
Frank Coffey, Dist. Atty., Truman Power, Ronald W. Quillin and Grant Liser, Asst. Dist. Attys., Fort Worth, and Jim D. Vollers, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The conviction is for robbery by the use of a firearm. The punishment was assessed by the jury at thirteen years.
The record reflects that on the 4th day of November, 1967, two men entered the Lilly Cleaners in Fort Worth and one of the men, armed with a pistol, forced the manager, Peggy Carley, her daughter and an employee to go to the back and lie face down on the floor. Approximately eighty dollars was taken from the cash register. A customer was robbed and was forced to lie down on the floor with the women.
From appellant's confession, the following is shown. Appellant and Robert Donald Hill decided to rob the Lilly Cleaners, and when they got there, Hill entered with a gun and appellant followed. Hill made the women lie down on the floor and then robbed a man who entered the store and made him lie down on the floor. When appellant could not open the cash register, Hill opened it, and they took some fifty or sixty dollars and left.
At the penalty stage of the trial, it was shown that appellant had served terms for three felony convictions.
Complaint is made that the court erred in admitting into evidence the confession of appellant without a showing that he knowingly and intelligently waived assistance of counsel.
At the hearing on the motion to suppress the confession appellant testified that after he was arrested he refused to say anything, and he was slapped, hit, kicked and that his lip was 'busted,' and his nose bloodied. He testified that he signed a confession that had already been typed, without reading it, and that he did not give the information contained in the confession. He further testified that he did not waive the assistance of counsel.
Officer Hudson of the Fort Worth Police Department testified that he and Officers Sinclair and Sommers arrested appellant at 12:10 p.m. on December 13, 1967, and took him directly to Justice of the Peace W. W. Matthews who warned him as follows:
'You have the right to remain silent.
'You are not required to make a statement, and any statement you make can and may be used against you in Court.
'You have the right to stop any interview or questioning at any time.
'You have the right to an examining trial.'
At 12:25 p.m. appellant signed the instrument that contained the warning.
Judge Matthews then asked appellant if he understood the warning that had been read to him and if he had any request to make and appellant answered he did not.
Officer Hudson further testified that before questioning appellant some five hours later, he gave him the 'Blue Card' warning. The record shows that the warning was substantially the same as that given by Judge Matthews and included the recital '* * * (h)aving been informed of these my rights and understanding same, I hereby freely voluntarily waive these rights, and not desiring a lawyer, voluntarily chose to make the following statement.'
Officer Hudson then testified that appellant voluntarily made the statement shortly after the warning and then after it was typed signed it, and Dianne Foster, who...
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Nash v. State
...we do not agree. McCandless v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 425 S.W.2d 636; Easley v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 448 S.W.2d 490; Thomas v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 458 S.W.2d 817. For all the reasons discussed above and in light of the record before us, we reject appellant's claims that the State failed to prov......
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...Moreno v. State, 511 S.W.2d 273, 276-77 (Tex.Cr.App.1974), cert. den. 419 U.S. 1115, 95 S.Ct. 794, 42 L.Ed.2d 813; Thomas v. State, 458 S.W.2d 817, 819 (Tex.Cr.App.1970). See also Williams v. State, 566 S.W.2d 919 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Castro v. State, 562 S.W.2d 252 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Johnson......
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