Summary
concluding that Enriquez was not entitled to judgment nunc pro tunc following commutation of death sentence
Summary of this case from Enriquez v. GutierrezOpinion
No. 04-10-00071-CR
Delivered and Filed: July 6, 2011. DO NOT PUBLISH.
Appealed from the 81st Judicial District Court, Karnes County, Texas, Trial Court No. 3862, Honorable Donna S. Rayes, Judge Presiding. Vacated.
Sitting: CATHERINE STONE, Chief Justice, SANDEE BRYAN MARION, Justice, PHYLIS J. SPEEDLIN, Justice.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
This appeal arises from a very unusual procedure pursued by the appellant, Juan Enriquez, forty-three years after he was convicted of murder, forty-one years after the conviction was affirmed on appeal, and thirty-seven years after his death penalty punishment was vacated by the United States Supreme Court and his sentence was commuted to life by Texas's then governor. Although Enriquez raises several issues on appeal, we must first determine whether the procedure employed was proper and whether the trial court was authorized to sign the document entitled "Sentence" which is the basis for Enriquez's appeal.
BACKGROUND
In the underlying case, Enriquez was convicted of murder with malice aforethought and sentenced to the death penalty on October 19, 1966. See Ex parte Enriquez, 490 S.W.2d 546, 547 (Tex. Crim. App. 1973). On February 14, 1968, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals disposed of Enriquez's appeal, affirming the trial court's judgment. Enriquez v. State, 429 S.W.2d 141, 145 (Tex. Crim. App. 1968). On June 29, 1972, the United States Supreme Court declared the death penalty void and vacated all death penalty sentences. Ex Parte Enriquez, 490 S.W.2d at 547. On August 31, 1972, Enriquez's death penalty sentence was commuted to life by the Honorable Preston Smith, Governor of the State of Texas. Id. On August 20, 2008, Enriquez filed a Motion for Nunc Pro Tunc Pronouncement of Sentence. In his motion, Enriquez contends the trial court elected not to pronounce a life sentence in 1972 upon inquiry by another trial court. Enriquez's motion refers to the trial court's authority to grant nunc pro tunc judgments and requests the trial court to "pronounce the sentence granted to [him] by the Governor of Texas." The trial court held a hearing on Enriquez's motion on November 4, 2009. The trial court announced on the record that the purpose of the hearing was to rule on Enriquez's motion. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court made the following verbal pronouncement:THE COURT: It is the order of this Court that the defendant, Juan Rudy Enriquez, who has been adjudged guilty of the crime of murder with malice aforethought in this cause, and whose punishment was assessed by the jury at death in which punishment has been commuted by the Governor of the State of Texas to life imprisonment in the Texas Department of Corrections, that Juan Rudy Enriquez is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; the Institutional Division as it is currently called. And the Court hereby remands Juan Rudy Enriquez to the custody of the Sheriff of Karnes County to carry out the terms of this sentence.The State asked the trial court if it should prepare a formal judgment. The trial judge responded that she wanted a document entitled "Sentence" prepared. In an effort to clarify this response, the trial court instructed the State as follows:
THE COURT: But I think two things need to occur. I am granting the motion for —
THE DEFENDANT: Nunc pro tunc.
THE COURT: — nunc pro tunc as follows —
[PROSECUTOR]: For the sentence.
THE COURT: — and announce the sentence as I did.The trial court subsequently signed a document entitled "Sentence" in conformity with its verbal pronouncement in open court.