From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Lee v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, Panel No. 2
Nov 21, 1979
589 S.W.2d 710 (Tex. Crim. App. 1979)

Opinion

No. 62202.

November 21, 1979.

Appeal from the 262nd Judicial District Court, Harris County, Sam Robertson, J.

Ronald G. Mock, Carol S. Vance, Dist. Atty., Kristen E. Moore and James S. England, Jr., Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, for appellant.

Robert Huttash, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.

Before ODOM, TOM G. DAVIS and CLINTON, JJ.


OPINION


This is an appeal from an order revoking appellant's probation and concomitant sentence to confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections. Regularity of original and revocation proceedings is not challenged.

At the outset, we are confronted with fundamental error that requires reversal in the interest of justice. Article 40.09(13), V.A.C.C.P.

The information to which appellant pled guilty purports to charge one variety of the offense of forgery, and alleges in pertinent part that appellant:

" . . . with intent to defraud and harm, forge the writing duplicated below by possessing it with intent to utter it and while knowing it was forged."

That an indictment or information alleging this kind of forgery which fails to allege that the writing purporting to be the act of another "who did not authorize the act" is fundamentally defective is now well settled. Minix v. State, 579 S.W.2d 466 (Tex.Cr.App. 1979) (on motion for rehearing); Landry v. State, 583 S.W.2d 620 (Tex.Cr.App. 1979) (on motion for rehearing).

Furthermore, it is well settled that a fundamentally defective indictment or information may be collaterally attacked on appeal from a revocation of probation. Rejcek v. State, 545 S.W.2d 164 (Tex.Cr.App. 1977) ; Huggins v. State, 544 S.W.2d 147 (Tex.Cr.App. 1976); Standley v. State, 517 S.W.2d 538 (Tex.Cr.App. 1975).

Accordingly, the judgment is reversed and the information herein is ordered dismissed.


Summaries of

Lee v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, Panel No. 2
Nov 21, 1979
589 S.W.2d 710 (Tex. Crim. App. 1979)
Case details for

Lee v. State

Case Details

Full title:Joseph William LEE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee

Court:Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, Panel No. 2

Date published: Nov 21, 1979

Citations

589 S.W.2d 710 (Tex. Crim. App. 1979)

Citing Cases

State v. Cuellar

Cases decided on appeal before the 1985 amendment to article 1.14 should be compared. See, e.g., Lee v.…

McFarland v. State

It has been held that an indictment for forgery by possession with intent to utter under V.T.C.A. Penal Code,…