Opinion

Johnson v. State

  • 666 S.W.2d 518
  • 1983 Tex. App. LEXIS 5620
Court
Court of Appeals of Texas
Filed
Dec 22, 1983
Status
Published
Author
Kennedy
On the bench
Bissett, Kennedy, Gonzalez
Cited by
0 cases
Authority
More cited than 20.8%

The opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

KENNEDY, Justice,

concurring.

I concur in overruling the State’s motion for rehearing. The record shows that Mrs. Leonard was qualified for jury service, that the Court excused her on its own motion, and that the State exhausted all of its peremptory challenges.

To the reasoning expressed in the majority opinion I would add that TEX. CODE CRIM.PROC.ANN. art. 35.03 (Vernon 1966) has no application to the situation in this case. Art. 35.03 allows the trial court to excuse a person summoned for jury service if he “deems the excuse sufficient.” By its placement in the Code of Criminal Procedure before those articles regulating impanelment of the venire panel and by its application through the years, art. 35.03 is limited in scope to those excuses heard and determined before the clerk draws “the names of a sufficient number of jurors from which a jury may be selected to try a case” pursuant to TEX.CODE CRIM. PROC.ANN. art. 35.11 (Vernon 1966). I believe that once the venire panel has been impaneled, art. 35.03 has no application. At that point the trial court should not, on his own motion, excuse a prospective juror unless he is absolutely disqualified. Hawkins v. State, 628 S.W.2d 71 (Tex.Cr.App. 1982); Esquivel v. State, 595 S.W.2d 516 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Valore v. State, 545 S.W.2d 477 (Tex.Cr.App.1977).

Where a qualified juror has been erroneously excused and the State has exhausted all of its peremptory challenges, harm is shown. Payton v. State, 572 S.W.2d 677 (Tex.Cr.App.1978). It is not necessary for the appellant to show that the prospective juror would have served except for the trial court action when the State has exhausted its peremptory challenges. Mitchell v. State, 645 S.W.2d 295 (Tex.Cr.App.1983).

I agree that the motion for rehearing should be overruled.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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