Michael Lopez v. State ( 2018 )

COURT OF APPEALS
SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS
FORT WORTH
NO. 02-17-00341-CR
MICHAEL LOPEZ APPELLANT
V.
THE STATE OF TEXAS STATE
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FROM CRIMINAL DISTRICT COURT NO. 3 OF TARRANT COUNTY
TRIAL COURT NO. 1490785D
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MEMORANDUM OPINION 1
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Appellant Michael Lopez was indicted on two counts of aggravated assault
with a deadly weapon, and at the conclusion of his trial, the trial court found him
guilty of the second count but not guilty of the first count and assessed Lopez’s
punishment for the single conviction at ten years’ confinement. The written
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See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.
judgments nonetheless reflect that Lopez was found guilty of both counts and
sentenced to ten years’ confinement for each count, to be served concurrently.
In a single issue, Lopez complains that the trial court’s written judgment on
count one conflicts with the trial court’s oral pronouncement of acquittal on that
count. He asks that we reform the judgment on that count to reflect the trial
court’s oral pronouncement of acquittal and that we remove the language from
both judgments requiring that his sentences run concurrently because there
should be only one sentence, for the count for which he was found guilty. The
State agrees that there is such a conflict and that we should accordingly reform
the judgments.
When there is a conflict between the trial court’s oral pronouncement and
its written judgment, the oral pronouncement controls, and the solution is to
reform the written judgment to conform to the oral pronouncement. Taylor v.
State, 131 S.W.3d 497, 500, 502 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004). Accordingly, we
sustain Lopez’s sole issue and modify the trial court’s judgments to reflect that he
was acquitted on count one and that there is only one ten-year sentence for his
conviction on count two. We affirm the trial court’s judgments as modified. See
Tex. R. App. P. 43.2(b).
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/s/ Bonnie Sudderth
BONNIE SUDDERTH
CHIEF JUSTICE
PANEL: SUDDERTH, C.J.; PITTMAN and BIRDWELL, JJ.
DO NOT PUBLISH
Tex. R. App. P. 47.2(b)
DELIVERED: July 5, 2018
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