Angel Rene Miranda v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 28, 2012
Docket03-11-00469-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Angel Rene Miranda v. State (Angel Rene Miranda 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
Angel Rene Miranda v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-11-00469-CR

Angel Rene Miranda, Appellant

v.

The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CALDWELL COUNTY, 421ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. 2011-017, HONORABLE TODD A. BLOMERTH, JUDGE PRESIDING

OPINION

A jury found appellant Angel Miranda guilty of three counts of aggravated sexual

assault. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.021 (West 2011). The trial court sentenced Miranda to

thirty years’ confinement for each count, with the sentences to be served concurrently. Miranda raises

two issues on appeal, asserting that the trial court erred in submitting a jury charge that (1) allowed the

jury to convict him of aggravated sexual assault based on the law of parties and (2) allowed the jury to

convict him on a less than unanimous verdict. Because we conclude that the jury charge was not in

error, we affirm the judgments of the trial court.

BACKGROUND

On April 5, 2009, Johnny Lozano and Joshua Jackson picked up fifteen-year-old K.B.

from her home at around 10:00 at night.1 Lozano and Jackson drove K.B. to a house that K.B. believed

1 The facts recited herein are taken from the testimony and exhibits admitted at trial. We refer to the complainant by her initials in order to protect her identity. belonged to Everett Rainey, another co-defendant. Lozano and Jackson went into Rainey’s house while

K.B. waited in the car. After approximately five or ten minutes, Lozano returned to the car and asked

K.B. if she wanted to join them in Rainey’s house. She stated that she did.

K.B. noted that five males were in the house, including Lozano, Jackson, Miranda,

Rainey and Pedro Quintero. All five of the males were seventeen years old. Eventually Lozano made

K.B. an alcoholic drink. K.B. stated that during this time, she had three alcoholic drinks, each of which

got progressively “stronger and stronger.” Lozano, Miranda, Rainey, and K.B. then drove to purchase

marijuana from an unknown party. K.B. initially hesitated, but eventually joined the other three as

they smoked marijuana in a convenience store parking lot. The group returned to Rainey’s house and

“rolled” another marijuana cigarette. Rainey said “Let’s go into the closet in the other room, so we

can smoke it.” Miranda, Lozano, Rainey, Quintero, and K.B. proceeded to the closet while Jackson

remained asleep on the couch. The group began smoking the marijuana in the closet when the “lights

proceeded to flash off.” It was at this point that the sexual assault of K.B. began.

K.B. initially felt Lozano’s hand rubbing her back and bottom, then Lozano began to

kiss her neck. Suddenly, K.B. felt another set of hands touching her. She attempted to push the hands

away, but because she was heavily intoxicated, she was never able to defend herself. Then, one of the

assailants grabbed her head and forced her to perform oral sex on him. While this was occurring, other

assailants pulled down K.B.’s pants and began touching her. One of the assailants said “Pass that bitch

over here,” and then forced K.B. to perform oral sex on him. She continued to try to get away, but

could not escape.

Eventually, the assailants pushed K.B. out of the closet and forced her on to the bed. As

K.B. tried to get up, Quintero and another assailant pushed her back down. Quintero forced K.B. to

2 perform oral sex on him while calling her “vulgar names.” Other assailants were sticking their fingers

in K.B.’s vagina. Miranda then said “Pass that bitch over here. I want some of that,” and forced K.B. to

perform oral sex on him. By this point, other assailants began forcing K.B. to have vaginal intercourse.

Someone pulled K.B.’s hair, and Miranda yelled out “Pull her hair again. It makes her suck better.”

K.B. began to go in and out of consciousness. The assailants took turns forcing K.B.

to perform oral, vaginal, and anal sex, often on two assailants at the same time. K.B. could hear

the assailants laughing and taking pictures on their cell phones. K.B. could not always tell who was

assaulting her at any given moment, though she did recall that during two distinct points in the assault,

Miranda forced her to perform oral sex while other assailants forced her to have vaginal sex.

The assault progressed to the living room. The other assailants woke Jackson up, said

“Look at this bitch here,” and then shoved K.B. toward Jackson. Jackson forced K.B. to perform

oral sex while the other assailants laughed and poured themselves drinks. K.B. began to gag, and

eventually threw up. The assailants forced her into the bathroom, at which point Quintero said “Look

at all that nut. We did this bitch good.” The group walked away, laughing. While K.B. was trying to

wash her face, Jackson came up from behind her and forced her to have anal sex. K.B. slipped and hit

her face on the wall, but Jackson persisted in forcing her to perform anal sex.

After the assault was complete, Lozano said “Get her dressed.” K.B. put her clothes

back on and the assailants forced her back into Lozano’s car. Lozano drove K.B. back to her home

while Jackson attempted to force K.B. to perform oral sex in the back seat. K.B. stumbled into her

home around 4:00 a.m. She curled up on a chair and fell asleep. That morning, she told her mother

about the assault as outlined above. That day, K.B. was examined by a sexual assault nurse who

obtained vaginal and anal swabs from K.B. The nurse took pictures of K.B.’s bruised eye and injured

3 shoulder. There was bruising and tearing in K.B.’s vaginal, anal, and perineal areas, and her genital area

was so swollen that the nurse could not perform an internal examination.

Five days after the assault, detectives with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office

contacted Miranda. During a non-custodial interview, Miranda initially claimed that he was not at

Rainey’s house that night, then admitted that he was present but claimed he did not remember any

sexual contact with K.B. Subsequent testing revealed that samples recovered from K.B.’s vaginal and

anal swabs matched Miranda’s and Jackson’s DNA. DNA from Lozano and Quintero matched samples

collected from a swab of K.B.’s breast. Miranda’s DNA was also found on clothing worn by K.B. on

the day of the assault.

Miranda was indicted for five counts of aggravated sexual assault for what could

commonly be referred to as “gang rape.” See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.021(a)(2)(A)(v) (West 2011).

Each count alleged that Miranda sexually assaulted K.B. through various forms of penetration, with the

aggravating element that he acted in concert with another assailant who also sexually assaulted K.B.

“during the course of the same criminal episode.”2 See id. Each count also alleged, as an alternative

theory of liability, that Miranda was a party to the alleged aggravated sexual assault; i.e., that he

encouraged, directed, aided, or attempted to aid other assailants in committing the gang rape. See

Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 7.01(a) (West 2011) (“A person is responsible as a party to an offense if the

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