Andrea Lane Whitney v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 26, 2018
Docket05-17-00417-CR
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
Andrea Lane Whitney v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion Filed July 26, 2018.

In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-17-00417-CR

ANDREA LANE WHITNEY, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 380th Judicial District Court Collin County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 380-80492-2016

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Bridges, Brown, and Boatright Opinion by Justice Boatright Andrea Whitney appeals the trial court’s judgment convicting her of the offense of accident

involving death and sentencing her to eight years in prison. Whitney raises six issues on appeal.

She contends that the evidence is legally insufficient to support her conviction. She also contends

that the State failed to disclose exculpatory evidence, her trial counsel failed to provide effective

assistance, and the trial court erred by (i) allowing a lay witness to give expert testimony, and (ii)

finding that Whitney was intoxicated. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

Ronald Bryan Baker was struck by Whitney’s car and died as a result of his injuries. Nayef

Sheam testified that he was driving home around midnight and saw a man’s body laying partially

on the grass and partially in the access road to Highway 75 in Allen, Texas. He stopped, parked his car, approached the body, and immediately called 911. The man was breathing very heavily,

and there was a large puddle of blood under his head. Sheam saw a young woman in the

background crying and yelling, “someone call 911.” She did not identify herself, and she did not

tell Sheam what had happened.

Allen Police Officer Sean Fourcand responded to the scene and found Baker lying partially

in the road, unconscious and bleeding. Baker started choking and seemed to have trouble breathing.

When Officer Fourcand crouched down to roll Baker onto his side to ease his breathing, he

observed blood coming from the back of Baker’s head and what appeared to be his brain hanging

out through a cracked portion of his skull. Officer Fourcand determined that Baker could not be

moved due to the seriousness of his injury.

Upon Officer Fourcand’s arrival at the scene, he saw a woman, later identified as Whitney,

walking toward him from a nearby parking lot. Once he determined he could not medically assist

Baker, Officer Fourcand started directing traffic to clear the way for the paramedics. He observed

that Whitney was hysterical and was trying to talk to the victim. When Officer Fourcand tried to

get some preliminary information from Whitney, she told him that Baker was her boyfriend. She

did not identify herself, and she did not tell Officer Fourcand that she was the person who struck

Baker with her car. Officer Fourcand asked for her driver’s license. She walked back toward the

same nearby parking lot, got into a car, and drove away.

Once the paramedics arrived to tend to Baker, Officer Fourcand began trying to identify

Whitney. He recalled her saying that she and Baker had been at the “Dirty Rooster” bar. He sent a

patrol officer with Whitney’s description to the bar. The officer was able to identify her from a

credit card receipt. With Whitney’s name, the officers were next able to obtain her address. They

looked for Whitney for several hours. Eventually Officer Fourcand and Corporal Arsenault met

Whitney at her house. She described what had happened that night. According to Officer Fourcand,

–2– she seemed very calm and did not display a lot of emotion. The officers found her car parked in

the garage and observed damage to the front of the vehicle. At that point, Officer Fourcand called

in Traffic Investigator Derrick Malena to conduct the investigation and to interview Whitney.

Whitney testified that she met Baker at the “Local Public House” bar on the night of the

accident. She said Baker was intoxicated when she arrived, and they stayed there several hours.

They decided to leave Local Public House and go to the Dirty Rooster bar for karaoke. They were

at the Dirty Rooster for about an hour-and-a-half. According to Whitney, she brought up something

that Baker did not want to talk about, so he got up and left. Whitney paid the bar tab and walked

out to the parking lot to look for Baker. She called him several times. He answered once, and they

had a brief conversation. She tried to call him back, but he did not answer. Whitney got in her car

and started driving home. As she drove on the southbound frontage road of the I-75 expressway,

she suddenly saw someone walking in the road. She did not have time to react and swerve or to

apply her brakes. She struck the person in the road and saw that it was Baker.

Whitney testified that she pulled over as soon as she could find a place to park her car. She

said she could not stop where she struck Baker because the road in that spot had narrowed to only

one lane. She instead continued driving until she could turn into a parking lot. She parked her car

and ran back to try to find Baker. She remembered telling someone to call 911 and that a police

officer arrived soon thereafter. She also remembered giving the officer Baker’s name. She told the

officer that Baker was her boyfriend and that they had been at the Dirty Rooster. She said the

officer never asked her what happened to Baker. She testified that when the officer asked for her

identification, she walked to her car to retrieve her license and “just freaked out.” She got into her

car and drove home. Once home, she changed her clothes and called her parents. She admitted

leaving the scene before the paramedics arrived.

–3– Whitney was charged with two offenses: (1) accident involving death under Transportation

Code Section 550.021(c)(1)(A), and (2) tampering with evidence. She waived a jury and pled no

contest to the first charge. The parties agreed that the second charge would be dismissed but that,

pursuant to Penal Code Section 12.45, the trial court could take it into consideration when

assessing punishment on the first charge. The trial court conducted a sentencing hearing and signed

a judgment convicting Whitney of the offense of accident involving death. The court sentenced

her to eight years in prison. Whitney filed a motion for new trial. The motion was set for hearing,

but the record does not reflect that the motion was ever heard or ruled upon. Whitney then appealed

the judgment.

DISCUSSION

A. Failure to Disclose Evidence

In her first issue, Whitney contends that the State improperly failed to disclose the existence

and the contents of a surveillance video. She argues the trial court erred by admitting testimony

about the contents of that video. We examine a trial court’s decision to admit or exclude evidence

for an abuse of discretion. Henley v. State, 493 S.W.3d 77, 82–83 (Tex. Crim. App. 2016). A trial

court abuses its discretion when its decision falls outside the zone of reasonable disagreement. Id.

at 83.

During the hearing, Steve Haldiman, co-owner of the Local Public House bar, testified that

Baker and Whitney were at his bar on the night of the accident and then left to go to the Dirty

Rooster. He was not working at the Local Public House that night but subsequently reviewed the

surveillance video and saw Baker and Whitney sitting together at the bar. According to Haldiman,

the video had no sound but it appeared that they were having an argument. Whitney appeared to

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