Axelrod v. State

764 S.W.2d 296, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3163, 1988 WL 137249
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 22, 1988
Docket01-87-00910-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 764 S.W.2d 296 (Axelrod 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
Axelrod v. State, 764 S.W.2d 296, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3163, 1988 WL 137249 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

*298 OPINION

LEVY, Justice.

This is an appeal from a conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a child.

Appellant was charged by information with the offense of intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly encouraging, causing, and contributing to the delinquency of a child by allowing him to remain on premises where intoxicating liquor was consumed. A jury found him guilty, and after finding an enhancement allegation true, the trial court assessed punishment at confinement in the Harris County jail for 30 days.

The record reflects that on the evening of August 20, 1987, undercover Sheriffs Deputy Demetri Lemonitsakis entered the Feathers Club, an establishment featuring topless dancers. At the Feathers Club, a patron may bring his own alcohol, pay a 20-dollar fee, and is then allowed to stay and drink.

Lemonitsakis observed four young men, including Michael Raftelis, enter the club. A waitress seated the youths at a table where they remained for approximately one hour. Once seated, each young man pulled a bottle of liquor from the paper sack he carried, placed it on the table in front of him, and paid the waitress $20 for coca cola “set-ups.”

Lemonitsakis was certain, by their appearance alone, that all four youths were minors. After observing the situation for about 20 minutes, during which time the youths continued to be served “set-ups” and the topless dancers began to dance, Lemonitsakis called and reported the incident to the police. When the uniformed officers arrived, the four young men were escorted outside. It was determined that all four were minors, Raftelis being only 16 years old.

Subsequently, Barry Axlerod, the owner of the Feathers Club, was arrested and charged by information with the offense of intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly encouraging, causing, and contributing to the delinquency of a child, Michael T. Raftelis, by encouraging him to drink intoxicating liquors, to-wit: by allowing him to remain on a premise where intoxicating liquor is consumed.

In his first four points of error, appellant asserts that the evidence is insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt either that he knew Michael Raftelis was under the age of 21, or that he intentionally, knowingly, and recklessly allowed Raftelis to remain on premises where intoxicating liquor is consumed.

Lemonitsakis testified that just by observing the boys he could tell from appearance alone that they were minors. He further testified that when the boys entered the club, appellant was standing near the entrance door and looked directly at them when they came in, and at one point was only two to three feet away from one of the boys. Lemonitsakis also testified that appellant was in the club during the entire time and had an unobstructed view of the boy’s table.

One of the minors, Paul Douglas Kor-man, testified that there were only some six to eight other people in the club, and that he was worried because he and his friends looked so much younger than the rest of the customers. He did not want the security officers to come over and ask to see any identification papers of the group, so he and at least one other minor hid their bottles of alcohol on the floor.

Steven Michael Thompson, another of the minors, testified that no employee of the Feathers Club had asked for any identification from any of the group. Raftelis further testified that no Feathers employee had asked or told the minors to stop consuming alcohol. All four of the minors testified that they did not see appellant in the Feathers Club on the night in question.

Appellant testified that he never stood around the bar and that he had been working in his office during the incident in question. He also claimed that he had never seen any of the four minors or Lemonitsak-is before.

Where a defendant is charged with knowingly selling or making an alcoholic beverage available to a minor (and the defendant is not the parent, legal guardian, or adult spouse of the minor for whom the alcoholic beverage was made available), the *299 term “knowingly” requires proof that the defendant had actual knowledge that the buyer was a minor. Starr v. State, 734 S.W.2d 52, 53 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1987, no pet.). Appearance alone has been consistently held to be insufficient evidence to establish a defendant’s knowledge of one’s minority. Dinh v. State, 695 S.W.2d 797, 799 (Tex.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1985, pet. ref’d). “In cases where evidence of knowledge of minority has been held sufficient, there has been evidence beyond physical appearance.” Id. We conclude, therefore, that the evidence in this case is insufficient to prove the culpable mental states of “knowingly” or “intentionally” contributing to the delinquency of a child.

Appellant was also charged with “recklessly” contributing to the delinquency of a minor. 1 Appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he recklessly allowed Raftelis to remain on the premises.

First, we observe that Tex.Penal Code Ann. sec. 6.03(c) (Vernon 1974) provides:

A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor’s standpoint.

Id.

The record reflects that there was evidence that appellant consciously disregarded the “substantial and unjustifiable” risk, which he should have reasonably anticipated, that underage males had gained admittance and were present in the club. It is neither unprecedented nor unusual for underage males to seek entrance into a club allowing alcohol consumption and featuring topless dancers.

The jury was presented with conflicting testimony, and as the triers of fact, the members of the jury could either believe or disbelieve any or all of the evidence offered to them. It is well settled that the applicable standard of review is whether any rational trier of fact could have found all the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Houston v. State, 663 S.W.2d 455, 456 (Tex.Crim.App.1984). Additionally, when considering a “sufficiency of the evidence” point on appeal, the reviewing court will look at all of the evidence before it in the light most favorable to the verdict or judgment. Id.

As previously noted, the jury heard evidence that appellant was the owner of the Feathers Club, that he saw that the underage boys, including 16-year-old Raftelis, were in the club, and that he allowed them to remain on the premises.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
764 S.W.2d 296, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3163, 1988 WL 137249, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/axelrod-v-state-texapp-1988.