King v. Texas (original by presiding judge keller)
Annotate this CaseAppellant Justin King was charged with evading arrest or detention with a motor vehicle and with theft of a firearm. The trial court held a pre-trial hearing on Appellant’s motion in limine regarding punishment evidence. Appellant’s trial counsel attended the hearing, but Appellant was not present in the courtroom. The trial court granted the unopposed motion in limine. While appellant was still outside the courtroom, the attorneys and trial court discussed whether Appellant intended to stipulate to the enhancements alleged in the indictment and whether Appellant might be disruptive at trial. Back on the record, the trial court and attorneys discussed how they would conduct voir dire under the assumption that Appellant would plead not guilty. Appellant then entered the courtroom. The State’s attorney said he would be trying only the evading arrest charge and would use the theft of firearm charge as an unadjudicated pending offense during the punishment phase. At this point, Appellant’s trial counsel left the courtroom. The trial court advised Appellant of his right to plead not guilty and asked whether he wanted to plead not guilty and go to trial. Appellant said that he wanted to plead guilty on the evading arrest charge and have the jury assess punishment. The trial court then asked Appellant to confirm this with his trial counsel. Appellant’s trial counsel returned to the courtroom, and Appellant told his attorney, “I want to apologize to you. I want you to represent me to the fullest extent. I want to plead ‘guilty’ to the evading and use the jury for sentencing.” The court then explained that pleading guilty would affect the way the attorneys conducted voir dire. Appellant said that he understood and wanted to plead guilty. The jury found Appellant guilty and assessed punishment at twenty years’ confinement and a $10,000 fine. On direct appeal, Appellant argued that his absence from the hearing violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and Article 28.01, Section 1 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court of Appeals agreed that Appellant’s absence was error but found the error to be harmless because Appellant’s presence did not bear a reasonably substantial relationship to his defense and his absence did not affect the outcome of the trial. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals found no due process violation and any Article 28.01 violation was harmless.
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