Andrus v. State

495 S.W.3d 300, 2016 WL 2941504, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 5253
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 18, 2016
DocketNO. 09-14-00355-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 495 S.W.3d 300 (Andrus v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Andrus v. State, 495 S.W.3d 300, 2016 WL 2941504, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 5253 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

OPINION

HOLLIS HORTON, Justice

In five issues, Starsky James Andrus appeals a jury’s verdict in which the jury found him guilty of burglarizing a habitation. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 30.02(a)(1), (c)(2) (West, 2011). On appeal, Andrus argues that (1) the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction; (2) the trial court erred in failing to- grant his motion seeking a directed verdict of acquittal; (3) the trial court erred by refusing the challenge for cause that he made against one of the potential jurors, potential juror 7 (PJ 7); (4) the trial court erred in failing to submit his requested charge [303]*303on the offense of burglary of a building, a crime that Andrus contends constituted a lesser-included offense under the facts of the burglary that were before the jury in his trial; and (5) the trial court erred in failing to submit his requested charge on criminal trespass, another crime he contends constituted a lesser-included offense under the facts before the jury at his trial. We conclude that Andrus’s complaints in .issues one, two, four and five are without merit, and that Andrus’s complaint in issue three, which concerns his complaints about the trial court’s refusal to strike PJ 7 for cause, was not properly preserved for our review.

Background

In 2013, Andrus was indicted for “intentionally” entering a habitation, owned by S.L.1 with the intent to commit theft. The indictment includes an enhancement count, which states that Andrus had a previous conviction for burglarizing a habitation.

, Briefly, the. facts proven during trial regarding the circumstances of the offense show that on the morning of November 25, 2013, S.L., the individual who owned the home where the offense allegedly occurred, discovered that surveillance-videos from her home had captured images of a man come onto her property, after which he entered her garage. The surveillance footage showing the man on her .property was admitted into the evidence that was before the jury during the trial. A-portion of the footage is in color, and in that portion, the face of the man can be seen as he stands at a door leading from S.L.’s garage into a covered breezeway that separates the garage from the rest of S.L.’s home. The garage, the breezeway, and the rest of S.L,’s house all share.the same roof.

On the day the incident occurred, S.L. reported the. incident to the police; two days later, S.L. showed an acquaintance, F.G., a picture of the man in the garage from the night of the burglary that S.L. captured by taking a picture of the video on her phone. Approximately one block from S.L.’s residence, F.C. noticed a man that he thought looked like the man in the picture S.L. had shown to him on her phone. F.C. called the police to report that he had. seen the man who entered S.L.’s property near her home. A police officer responded to the call and the officer saw a man fitting the description given to police by F.C. and detained him. Shortly thereafter, S.L. identified the man that the officer had detained as the man in the footage taken of the man in her garage.

After he was detained, Andrus agreed to a request by the officer that Andrus accompany her to the police station. After Andrus arrived at the station, he spoke to Detective Tina Lewallen regarding his activities on the night of the burglary, An-drus’s interview with Detective Lewallen was recorded, and the recording was admitted during the trial. In the interview, Detective Lewallen showed Andrus footage from the surveillance video. After viewing the footage, Andrus told Detective Lewallen that he was the person who entered the garage, but he denied that he had done anything while in the garage or that he had taken anything while there.

Andrus .did not testify during the trial. When S.L. testified, she indicated that she was uncertain whether Andrus had taken any items from her garage. Additionally, the footage from the surveillance cameras [304]*304reflects that Andrus was inside S.L.’s garage for less than four minutes.

At the conclusion of the State’s case, Andrus moved for an instructed verdict, asking for a judgment of acquittal. He argued that the prosecution had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt all of the necessary elements of the offense of burglary of a habitation. The trial court denied his request for a directed verdict. Subsequently, without calling any witnesses, Andrus rested. After the jury deliberated, the jury found that Andrus had entered S.L.’s habitation without her permission, and it inferred from the evidence that he had entered the habitation with the intent to commit a theft.

Standard of Review

In issue one, Andrus argues the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction for burglarizing S.L.’s home. In issue two, Andrus complains the trial court should have granted his motion for instructed verdict. When the defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction, the evidence from the trial, when evaluated in the appeal, is reviewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict to determine whether the jury could have found that the defendant committed the essential elements of the offense based on a standard of beyond reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); see also Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 894-95 (Tex.Crim. App.2010). In our review, we are not to substitute óur judgment for that of the jury; instead, the standard of, review requires that the jüry be allowed to fully exercise its responsibility to fairly resolve any conflicts that may exist in the testimony, to weigh the evidence for and against the accused, and to draw reasonable inferences from the basic facts to reach its ultimate conclusion about the defendant’s guilt. See Williams v. State, 235 S.W.3d 742, 750 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). When a defendant complains about a trial court’s failure to grant a motion for directed verdict, we treat that issue “as a challenge to the legal sufficiency of the evidence.” Williams v. State, 937 S.W.2d 479, 482 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). With respect to An-drus’s first two issues, we review the evidence admitted at trial to determine whether the evidence allowed the jury to conclude that Andrus was guilty under the standards identified by the United States Supreme Court in Jackson. See Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781.

Sufficiency Challenges

In issues one and two, Andrus argues the evidence is insufficient to show that he intentionally entered a habitation. Also, Andrus argues the evidence is insufficient to show that while in the garage, he intended to commit theft.

Under Texas law, a person can be found guilty of burglarizing a habitation if it is proven that he entered a habitation without the effective consent of the owner with the intent to commit a felony, a theft, or an assault, or if he attempts to commit these offenses. See Tex. ’ Penal Code Ann. § 30.02(a)(1), (3) (West 2011). For purposes of burglary, the term “habitation” is defined by the Penal Code as follows:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brandon Lee Davis v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
James Jordan Earl v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
Archie Lee Harris Jr. v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Derek Devone Cobbs v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Michael Mauricio Martinez v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
Holston Banks, III v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
United States v. Roberto Moreno Pena
952 F.3d 503 (Fourth Circuit, 2020)
State v. Dana Lee Ingram
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Nathaniel Daniel Bob v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Dorothy Carter v. State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Clyde Shilo Chopane v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Tommy James Lewis v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
495 S.W.3d 300, 2016 WL 2941504, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 5253, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/andrus-v-state-texapp-2016.