Cartier v. State

Upon a plea of not guilty, appellant Joseph Hill Cartier was convicted by a jury of murder and punishment was assessed at confinement for life and a $10,000 fine. By two points of error, appellant contends (1) he was denied due process under the Federal Constitution through the failure of section 19.02 of the Texas Penal Code to provide him with a "vehicle" by which the jury could give effect to mitigating evidence that had distinct relevance to punishment separate and apart from its tendency to establish the existence of sudden passion in the underlying facts of the murder verdict; and (2) the trial court committed fundamental error in failing to include language within the courts punishment charge requiring that the jurys decision on the issue of sudden passion had to be unanimous before it could then proceed to assessment of a term of punishment. Based upon the rationale expressed herein, we affirm.