Page:Ricarte v. State.pdf/8

 and be given to the jury when the issue of punishment was submitted. The statutes do not contemplate that procedure when punishment is to be fixed by the jury, and for good reasons. The report would be a waste of time and money whenever the defendant is acquitted. And when he is found guilty in the first stage of a bifurcated trial, there would be serious practical difficulties in allowing the jury to separate for an indefinite period while the defendant's background was being investigated. The legislature may well have concluded that when a defendant has a record of previous convictions—ten in this instance—the issue of punishment should be submitted on that record alone, without a pre-sentence investigation.

Reversed and remanded.

H, J., dissents.