Hubble, William Buckner ( 2015 )


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  •                                                                    PD-0249-15
    PD-0249-15                         COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
    AUSTIN, TEXAS
    Transmitted 3/6/2015 2:11:05 PM
    Accepted 3/6/2015 2:53:32 PM
    No. _ _ _ __                                    ABEL ACOSTA
    CLERK
    IN THE TEXAS COURT OF
    CRIMINAL APPEALS
    WILLIAM BUCKNER HUBBLE
    Petitioner,
    v.
    THE STATE OF TEXAS,
    Respondent.
    From the Second Court of Appeals, No. 02-13-00541-CR,
    and the District Court of Cooke County, Texas,
    Cause No. CR-07-256
    PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
    Jeff Springer
    State Bar No. 18966750
    SPRINGER & LYLE, LLP
    1807 Westminster
    Denton, TX 76205
    March 6, 2015                  940.387.0404 (ph}
    940.383.7656 (fax)
    jeff@springer-lyle.com (email)
    ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT
    TABLE OF CONTENTS
    TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... 2
    IDENTITY OF JUDGES, PARTIES AND COUNSEL .......................................... 3
    TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .................................................................................... 4
    STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT ............................................... 5
    STATEMENT OF TI-lE CASE ................................................................................. 5
    PROCEDU'RA.L 1-DSTORY ...................................................................................... 5
    GROUNDS FOR REVIEW ...................................................................................... 6
    ARGUMENT ........................................................................................................... 7
    (I) Did the Court of Appeals err in applying Tex. R. App. P. 33(a)(l)
    in its analysis of the context of the trial record? ........................................ 8
    (2) Did the Court of Appeals improperly fail to rebut, or at least
    address, Petitioner's Tex. R. App. P. 33(a)(l) analysis ofthe
    context of the record? ................................................................................. 8
    (3) Did the Court of Appeals err in failing to reach the merits of
    Petitioner's complaint that his trial counsel was prevented from
    telling the jury that one of his enhancement convictions had been
    reclassified to a misdemeanor? .................................................................. 9
    PRAYER ······ ...............................................   I II II I I l l I II II I •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I II I I II I I   13
    CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE ...................................................................... 14
    CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE ................................................................................ 14
    APPENDIX
    Court of Appeals' Opinion····································~···~····~···~···~··~~···~················ 1
    Court of Appeals' Opinion on Rehearing ........................................................ 2
    2
    IDENTITY OF JUDGE, PARTIES AND COUNSEL
    Parties to the Judgment          William Buckner Hubble, Defendant
    State ofTexas, State
    Trial Judge                      Hon. Janelle Haverkamp, Judge
    235th District Court
    Cooke County, Texas
    Defendant's Trial Counsel        Mr. Christopher Fostel, Esq.
    Ector County District Attorney's Office
    300 North Grant, Room 305
    Odessa, TX 797 61
    State's Trial Counsel            Ms. Janice Warder, Esq.
    Mr. Ron Poole, Esq.
    Ms. Lisa Decker, Esq.
    Cooke County District Attorney
    101 Dixon Street, Suite 309
    Gainesville, Texas 76240
    Defendant's Counsel on Appeal    Mr. Jeff Springer, Esq.
    1807 Westminster
    Denton, TX 76205
    State's Counsel on Appeal        Ms. Sue Korioth, Esq.
    Special Prosecutor
    P.O. Box 600103
    Dallas, Texas 75360-0103
    3
    INDEX OF AUTHORITIES
    Cases
    Davis v. State, 
    329 S.W.3d 798
    , 825 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) ................................ 11
    Eckert v. State, 672 S. W .2d 600, 603 (Tex. App. Austin 1984, pet. ref d) ............ 10
    Ex parte Hubble, 2013 Tex. Crim. App. Unpub. LEXIS I 041 (Tex. Crim. App.
    Oct. 9, 2013)........................................................................................................... 6
    Lankston v. State, 
    827 S.W.2d 907
    ,909 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992) .......................... 12
    Melendez v. State, 
    4 S.W.3d 437
    ,442 (Tex.App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1999, no
    pet.), overruled on other grounds, Small v. State, 
    23 S.W.3d 549
    (Tex.App.--
    Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, pet. ref'd) ..................................................................... 11
    State v. Wooldridge, 
    237 S.W.3d 714
    , 716-17 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) .................. 8
    Statutes
    TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 30.04(d) (Vernon 2013) .................................................. 6
    Rules
    Tex. R. App. P. 33.l(a)(l) ................................................................................... 7, 10
    Tex. R. App. P. 44 ................................................................................................... 10
    4
    STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT
    Petitioner waives oral argument
    STATEMENT OF THE CASE
    Appellant was convicted of felony unlawful possession of a firearm in 20 10.
    [CR 51-52]. His range of punishment was enhanced by two prior felonies, one of
    which was a 1987 conviction for burglary of a motor vehicle. /d. He was sentenced
    to sixty years incarceration. /d.
    On appeal, Appellant complained that his sentence was affected by the trial
    court's refusal to allow his trial attorney to argue that the 1987 felony used to
    enhance his range of punishment had been reclassified to a misdemeanor a few
    years after his conviction. In a memorandum opinion with one justice concurring
    in the result only, the Court of Appeals refused to consider the merits of the
    argument, disregarding Petitioner's interpretation of the record and concluding
    instead that the only apparent argument was improper, and error as to any another
    argument had not been preserved for appeal. [AX I at 5].
    Petitioner challenged the Court of Appeals holding in a Motion for
    Rehearing. [See AX 2]. The motion was denied, but one justice noted that she
    would have granted a rehearing. /d.
    5
    Appellant filed this Petition for Review to challenge the Court of Appeals'
    holding that his trial counsel attempted only an improper argument and failed to
    preserve error on the specific complaint raised on appeal.
    PROCEDURAL HISTORY
    Petitioner timely perfected his appeal after this court granted his application
    for writ of habeas corpus. Ex parte Hubble, 2013 Tex. Crim. App. Unpub. LEXIS
    1041 (Tex. Crim. App. Oct. 9, 2013). On December 23, 2014 the Court of Appeals
    affirmed his conviction. [AX 1 at 6]. Petitioner requested rehearing on January 22,
    2015. The Court of Appeals denied the motion on February 5, 2015. [AX 2 at 1].
    GROUNDS FOR REVIEW
    (1) Did the Court of Appeals err in applying Tex.
    R. App. P. 33(a)(1) in its analysis of the context of the
    trial record?
    (2) Did the Court of Appeals improperly fail to
    rebut, or at least address, Petitioner's Tex. R. App. P.
    33(a)(1) analysis of the context of the record?
    (3) Did the Court of Appeals err in failing to reach
    the merits of Petitioner's complaint that his trial
    counsel was prevented from telling the jury that one
    of his enhancement convictions had been reclassified
    to a misdemeanor?
    6
    ARGUMENT
    A.    Factual Background
    A Cooke County jury convicted Petitioner of felony unlawful possession of
    a firearm in April of 2010. [CR 51-52]. At the punishment stage of his trial,
    Petitioner's attorney attempted argue that one of his enhancement convictions, a
    1987 felony burglary of a vehicle, had been reclassified to a misdemeanor a few
    years after the conviction. [3 RR at 86]. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 30.04(d)
    (Vernon 2013).
    Petitioner's attorney began the argument by reminding the jury that the
    conviction had occurred many years before, when Petitioner was 19 years old. [3
    RR at 86]. Then, as he was about to address the crime's reclassification, the
    prosecutor objected (mid-sentence) that the argument was outside the record. /d.
    The trial judge sustained. /d. After the objection was sustained, Petitioner's trial
    counsel simply moved on. He did not perfect a bill of exceptions or attempt to
    explain to the judge how he intended to finish his sentence, but the record makes
    clear what he intended to say: He was about to tell the jury that burglary of a
    vehicle is not a misdemeanor, not a felony.
    When the jury retired to deliberate, it the judge's instructions put the range
    of punishment at 25 to 99 or life. [CR at 43]. The jury obviously split the range
    7
    down the middle.           Petitioner's punishment was assessed at sixty years
    confinement. [CR at 41].
    Petitioner appealed. In two issues, he argued that the trial judge had
    impermissibly prevented his trial attorney from telling the jury that the
    enhancement felony had been reclassified to a misdemeanor} [AX 1 at 3]. The
    Court of Appeals never addressed this argument. It held instead that Petitioner's
    counsel must have intended to argue that the reclassified burglary conviction could
    not be used to enhance Petitioner's sentence, even though Petitioner never raised
    the issue, and even though the record contains no indication whatsoever that this
    argument was intended. [AX at 4-6].
    This Petition has been filed to challenge the Court of Appeals' failure to
    reach the merits of Petitioner's complaints.
    B.     Argument and Authorities
    (1) Did the Court of Appeals err in applying Tex.
    R. App. P. 33(a)(1) in its analysis of the context of the
    trial record?
    (2) Did the Court of Appeals improperly fail to
    rebut, or at least address, Petitioner's Tex. R. App. P.
    33(a)(l) analysis of the context of the record?
    1
    This court held long ago that the reclassification of a felony to a misdemeanor does not
    disqualify the conviction from being used to enhance the range of punishment. State v.
    Wooldridge, 
    237 S.W.3d 714
    ,716-17 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). However, to appellate counsel's
    knowledge, no court has addressed whether the reclassification can be communicated to the jury
    in closing argument.
    8
    (3) Did the Court of Appeals err in failing to reach
    the merits of Petitioner's complaint that his trial
    counsel was prevented from telling the jury that one
    of his enhancement convictions had been reclassified
    to a misdemeanor?
    To preserve error on appeal, Tex. R. App. P. 33.l(a)(l) only requires that the
    specific grounds be apparent from the context of the record. To understand the
    context of the trial court's ruling during the closing argument in Petitioner's case,
    one has to start at the charge conference. There, Petitioner's trial counsel objected
    to the use of the burglary conviction to enhance Petitioner's punishment. [3 RR at
    69-70]. The trial court correctly overruled the objection. /d. at 70. The dialogue
    during the charge conference, however, is important because it demonstrates that
    the trial judge knew that Petitioner's burglary offense had been reclassified, and
    that Petitioner's attorney knew that it would be included in the enhancement
    charge over his objection.
    When jury argument began only a short time later, Petitioner's attorney
    devoted a few minutes to the burglary conviction. {3 RR 86]. Then, it became
    obvious that he intended to address the reclassification.       The record of the
    argument and objection is short:
    William Hubble was born in 1968. The State has
    alleged that he committed the crime, or was convicted
    of a crime of burglary of a motor vehicle in 1987.
    That would have made him around 19 years old. I don't
    know very many people that would want to be judged on
    their behavior as a 19 year old.
    *                         *                         *
    9
    But another thing to remember about burglary of a
    motor vehicle, and no one is saying it's a good crime.
    There's no such a thing. But you also need to realize
    that since then and now --
    MR. POOLE: Judge, objection. He's going outside
    the record.
    THE COURT: Sustained.
    MR. FOSTEL: Okay.
    !d. It takes no imagination to complete the sentence: "But you also need to realize
    that since then and now-- [burglary of a vehicle has been reclassified to a
    misdemeanor.]" (Emphasis added.)             Apparent from the context of the record was
    that Appellants' trial counsel intended to tell the jury that the enhancement felony
    had been reclassified to a misdemeanor. 2 Beyond this, the record is completely
    silent.
    Petitioner argued in the Court of Appeals that the judge erred in sustaining
    the prosecutor's objection. [AX 1 at 3]. Evidence of Appellant's prior conviction
    for burglary of a vehicle had been admitted, showing that the conviction occurred
    in 1987. See, State's Exh. 8; [3RR at 66]. That the offense had been reclassified by
    the legislature as a misdemeanor was not a fact extraneous to the evidence, but a
    reasonable explanation of the law based upon facts admitted. See Eckert v. State,
    
    672 S.W.2d 600
    , 603 (Tex. App.-- Austin 1984, pet. refd). Since its
    reclassification was not a misstatement of the law, Appellant argued that his
    2
    This was the subject of Appellant's issue on appeal-whether that argument was a correct
    statement of the law, constituting proper jury argument. This is a question of first impression
    that the Court avoided by determining that trial counsel had failed to preserve error.
    10
    attorney was entitled to discuss it. ld. See also Melendez v. State, 
    4 S.W.3d 437
    ,
    442 (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 1999, no pet.), overruled on other grounds,
    Small v. State, 
    23 S.W.3d 549
    (Tex. App.--Houston [1st Dist.] 2000, pet. refd).
    The trial judge erred when she sustained the Prosecutor's objection, and it cannot
    be said beyond a reasonable doubt that the error would not have affected
    Petitioner's sentence. See Tex. R. App. P. 44. 3
    The Court of Appeals refused to address Petitioner's argument. Instead, it
    determined that "the only matter apparent to the trial court from the context of the
    record was that defense counsel wanted to inform the jury that it should not use the
    prior burglary conviction for enhancement. .. " [AX 1 at 5]( emphasis added). The
    court did not explain how this conclusion is supported by the record, nor did it
    attempt to rebut Petitioner's analysis.
    The Court of Appeals' rationale is demonstrably flawed. If it were correct,
    one should be able to complete trial counsel's unfinished sentence with a phrase
    consistent with the court's conclusion that he attempted to inform the jury that the
    conviction could not be used for enhancement. There is simply no way to do that.
    The court's tortured analysis requires finishing the sentence per Petitioner's
    analysis, then speculating about what might be said afterward. Rule 33 does not
    3
    Prohibiting counsel from making a particular jury argument amounts to a denial of the
    defendant's right to counsel when the argument is one the defendant is entitled to make.
    Davis v. State, 
    329 S.W.3d 798
    , 825 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010).
    11
    allow for that kind of conjecture; instead, it limits courts to what is "apparent from
    the context of the record", eliminating speculation about what might occur after the
    matter apparent are concluded. Tex. R. App. P. 33.l{a){l).
    Having decided that Petitioner's attorney attempted an improper argument,
    the Court dismissed any other interpretation by holding that, to the extent any other
    statement was intended, Petitioner's trial counsel failed to preserve error. [AX 1 at
    5]. The Court dismissed other contextual interpretations without ever addressing
    Petitioner's analysis, nor explaining how the argument he advocated had been
    waived when the one raised sua sponte by the Court of Appeals was not. In short,
    its analysis was erroneously harsh and patently unfair:
    The standards of procedural default. .. are not to be implemented by
    splitting hairs in the appellate courts. As regards specificity, all a party
    has to do to avoid the forfeiture of a complaint on appeal is to let the
    trial judge know what he wants, why he thinks himself entitled to it, and
    to do so clearly enough for the judge to understand him at a time when
    the trial court is in a proper position to do something about it.
    Lankston v. State. 
    827 S.W.2d 907
    , 909 (Tex. Crim. App. 1992). Had the court
    fairly examined the record and Petitioner's complaint, it would have agreed with
    Petitioner's contextual analysis, determined that his trial counsel had preserved
    error, and reached the merits of Petitioner's appea1.4
    4
    It is worth noting that Justice Dauphinot only concurred in the Court of Appeals' result, and
    ultimately would have granted Appellant a rehearing. [AX I at 6; AX 2].
    12
    PRAYER
    Petitioner's complaint in this case was crystal clear to everyone in the
    courtroom on the last day of his trial. His trial attorney didn't need to do anything
    else to make his intentions clearer. The Court of Appeals erred in resorting to a
    procedural default to avoid the merits of Petitioner's complaint that the trial court
    erred and deprived him of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel by sustaining the
    objection that prevented his attorney from telling the jury that one of his
    enhancement convictions had been reclassified to a misdemeanor.
    THEREFORE, Petitioner requests this Court to grant his Petition for
    Review; determine that court of appeals erred in failing to reach the merits of
    Petitioner's complaint; and reverse the court of appeals' decision and remand this
    case to the court of appeals for a decision on the merits.
    Respectfully submitted,
    Jeff Springer
    State Bar No. 18966750
    SPRINGER & LYLE, LLP
    1807 Westminster
    Denton, TX 76205
    940-387-0404 (phone)
    940-383-7656 (fax)
    jeff@springer-lyle.com
    ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT
    13
    CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
    I certify that a true and correct copy of the foregoing document was served
    in accordance with the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure on the 6th day of
    March, 2015, by delivering it to the following:
    Ms. Janice Warder, Esq.                    Ms. Sue Korioth, Esq.
    Cooke County District Attorney             Special Prosecutor
    101 Dixon Street, Suite 309                P.O. Box 600103
    Gainesville, Texas 76240                   Dallas, Texas 75360-0103
    ian ice. warder@.co.cooke. tx. us          suekori oth@.ao l.com
    Lisa McMinn
    State Prosecuting Attorney's Office
    P.O. Box 13046
    Austin, TX 78711
    information@.soa.texas.gov
    CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
    In compliance with Tex. R. App. P. 9.4(i), I certify that this document
    contains 1.876 words. This document was created in Microsoft Word. The body is
    in conventional 14 point text, and the footnotes are in conventional 12 point text. I
    have relied on the software and word-count generated by the software in making
    this certificate.
    14
    COURT OF APPEALS
    SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
    FORT WORTH
    NO. 02-13-00541-CR
    WILLIAM BUCKNER HUBBLE                                              APPELLANT
    V.
    THE STATE OF TEXAS                                                        STATE
    ----------
    FROM THE 235TH DISTRICT COURT OF COOKE COUNTY
    TRIAL COURT NO. 07-256
    ----------
    MEMORANDUM OPINION1
    ----------
    Appellant William Buckner Hubble was charged with unlawfully possessing
    a firearm at a location other than where he lived after having been convicted of a
    felony. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 46.04(a) (West 2011). The State filed
    notice of its intention to use two prior felony convictions to enhance punishment
    to habitual offender status. The notice included a 1994 felony possession-of-a-
    1
    See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.
    controlled-substance conviction and a 1987 felony burglary-of-a-motor-vehicle
    conviction.
    A jury found Hubble guilty of unlawfully possessing a firearm. Prior to
    commencement of the punishment phase of trial, Hubble’s defense attorney
    objected to the use of Hubble’s 1987 burglary-of-a-motor-vehicle conviction as a
    prior felony conviction for enhancement purposes because the legislature had
    reclassified that offense from a felony to a misdemeanor after Hubble’s 1987
    conviction. The trial court overruled the objection.
    During the punishment phase of trial, the State introduced evidence to
    support the two prior felony convictions. The State also introduced evidence of
    Hubble’s prior misdemeanor convictions for assault in 1997, possession of
    marijuana in 2003 and in 2005, driving while intoxicated in 1993 and 2005, and
    possession of a prohibited weapon in 2006 and of a 1987 judgment revoking
    probation for burglary of a habitation.
    During closing arguments, Hubble’s attorney argued,
    Now, the charge, of course, has a huge wide range just like I
    told you it would during voir dire. You can assess anywhere from
    two to 99 years or life, depending upon your findings after you
    review this charge on punishment.
    . . . The State has alleged that he committed the crime, or
    was convicted of a crime of burglary of a motor vehicle in 1987.
    That would have made him around 19 years old. I don’t know very
    many people that would want to be judged on their behavior as a 19
    year old.
    Now, did there happen to be a gun? Obviously not. . . . . But
    another thing to remember about burglary of a motor vehicle, and no
    2
    one is saying it’s a good crime. There’s not such a thing. But you
    also need to realize that since then and now—
    The State then objected that “he’s going outside the record.” The trial court
    sustained the objection.
    The jury found both enhancement allegations to be true, which increased
    the punishment range to a minimum of 25 years’ imprisonment and a maximum
    of 99 years’ or life imprisonment, and assessed Hubble’s punishment at sixty
    years’ confinement. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §12.42(d) (West Supp. 2014).
    The trial court sentenced Hubble accordingly. Although Hubble did not timely
    perfect an appeal, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted his request for
    leave to file an out of time appeal. See Ex Parte Hubble, No. WR-79509-01,
    
    2013 WL 5568448
    (Tex. Crim. App. Oct. 9, 2013) (not designated for
    publication).
    In two issues, Hubble contends that the trial court abused its discretion by
    sustaining the State’s objection to his closing argument as set forth above.
    Hubble argues that the trial court’s ruling impermissibly limited his closing
    argument and deprived him of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Hubble
    acknowledges that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has held that the State
    may use for enhancement purposes a prior felony that has since been
    reclassified as a misdemeanor. See State v. Wooldridge, 
    237 S.W.3d 714
    , 716–
    17 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). And he concedes that the State’s use of his prior
    conviction for burglary of a motor vehicle for enhancement was proper in this
    3
    case because that offense was classified as a felony at the time of his 1987
    conviction. Rather, Hubble asserts that he should have been allowed to tell the
    jury that the offense of burglary of a motor vehicle has since been reclassified as
    a misdemeanor and that, consequently, had he committed that offense a few
    years later, the State could not have used it to enhance his punishment in this
    case.
    To preserve a complaint for our review, a party must have presented to the
    trial court a timely request, objection, or motion that states the specific grounds
    for the desired ruling if they are not apparent from the context of the request,
    objection, or motion. Tex. R. App. P. 33.1(a)(1); Landers v. State, 
    402 S.W.3d 252
    , 254 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013); Sample v. State, 
    405 S.W.3d 295
    , 300 (Tex.
    App.—Fort Worth 2013, pet. ref’d). Further, the trial court must have ruled on the
    request, objection, or motion, either expressly or implicitly, or the complaining
    party must have objected to the trial court’s refusal to rule. Tex. R. App. P.
    33.1(a)(2); Pena v. State, 
    353 S.W.3d 797
    , 807 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011).             “To
    avoid forfeiture of a complaint on appeal, all a party has to do is let the trial judge
    know what he wants and why he thinks he is entitled to it and do so clearly
    enough for the judge to understand the request at a time when the trial court is in
    a proper position to do something about it.” Bedolla v. State, 
    442 S.W.3d 313
    ,
    316 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014).
    Here, Hubble did not inform the trial court of the specific argument he
    intended to make after the State interrupted his argument to object and after the
    4
    trial court sustained the State’s objection. Defense counsel argued, “[A]nother
    thing to remember about burglary of a motor vehicle, and no one is saying it’s a
    good crime. There’s not such a thing. But you also need to realize that since
    then and now—”     The only other argument in the record that sheds light on what
    defense counsel was attempting to argue was his objection at the beginning of
    the punishment phase of trial to the State’s use of Hubble’s 1987 burglary of a
    vehicle conviction for enhancement. Specifically, defense counsel stated,
    Judge, I am going to object to the portion and to any enhancement
    that’s come up with regard to burglary of a motor vehicle inasmuch
    as that offense since then has been reduced to a Class A -- I mean,
    not this particular one. I’m saying the legislature since the ‘80s has
    realized -- has thought better of it and gone back in and made that a
    Class A misdemeanor. I don’t think it’s fair to come at him two
    decades later using it as a felony enhancement. And we are asking
    that that be removed from the charge.
    As the State recognizes on appeal, Hubble was not required to formally
    except to the trial court’s ruling on the State’s objection to preserve error for
    appeal but the only matter apparent to the trial court from the context of the
    record was that defense counsel wanted to inform the jury that it should not use
    the prior burglary conviction for enhancement because it has been reclassified as
    a misdemeanor. To the extent that defense counsel was attempting to make any
    other argument, he has not preserved his complaint for appeal. See Tex. R.
    App. P. 33.1(a)(1). And to the extent that defense counsel was attempting to
    argue that the jury should not use Hubble’s 1987 felony conviction to enhance his
    punishment because it has since been reclassified as a misdemeanor, this is not
    5
    a proper statement of the law, as conceded by Hubble on appeal.               See
    
    Wooldridge, 237 S.W.3d at 716
    –17. This argument is also contrary to the law
    contained in the jury charge. See State v. Renteria, 
    977 S.W.2d 606
    , 608 (Tex.
    Crim. App. 1998) (holding that jury argument stating law contrary to the jury
    charge is improper). The jury charge stated the applicable law regarding the
    jury’s consideration of the prior felony offenses alleged by the State for
    enhancement; the jury was tasked with determining whether the allegation of the
    prior conviction was true beyond a reasonable doubt. An argument that the jury
    find the allegation not true because the prior offense is no longer classified as a
    felony would be an improper suggestion that the jury refuse to follow the law.
    See Eckert v. State, 
    672 S.W.2d 600
    , 603 (Tex. App.—Austin 1984, pet. ref’d).
    Because Hubble was not entitled to make the only argument preserved for
    appeal and because he did not preserve for appeal any other complaint
    regarding his attempted jury argument, we overrule Hubble’s two issues and
    affirm the trial court’s judgment. See Tex. R. App. P. 33.1(a)(1).
    /s/ Sue Walker
    SUE WALKER
    JUSTICE
    PANEL: DAUPHINOT, GARDNER, and WALKER, JJ.
    DAUPHINOT, J. concurs without opinion.
    DO NOT PUBLISH
    Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b)
    DELIVERED: December 23, 2014
    6
    FILE COPY
    COURT OF APPEALS
    SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
    FORT WORTH
    NO. 02-13-00541-CR
    WILLIAM BUCKNER HUBBLE                                               APPELLANT
    V.
    THE STATE OF TEXAS                                                         STATE
    ------------
    FROM THE 235TH DISTRICT COURT OF COOKE COUNTY
    TRIAL COURT NO. 07-256
    ------------
    ORDER
    ------------
    We have considered “Appellant’s Motion For Rehearing.”
    It is the opinion of the court that the motion for rehearing should be and is
    hereby denied and that the opinion and judgment of December 23, 2014, stand
    unchanged.
    The clerk of this court is directed to transmit a copy of this order to the
    attorneys of record.n
    SIGNED February 5, 2015.
    /s/ Sue Walker
    SUE WALKER
    JUSTICE
    FILE COPY
    PANEL: DAUPHINOT, GARDNER, and WALKER, JJ.
    DAUPHINOT, J. would grant.
    2