Billodeau v. State

263 S.W.3d 318, 2007 WL 2264440
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 16, 2008
Docket01-05-01130-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 263 S.W.3d 318 (Billodeau 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
Billodeau v. State, 263 S.W.3d 318, 2007 WL 2264440 (Tex. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

CORRECTED OPINION1

LAURA CARTER HIGLEY, Justice.

Appellant, David Clyde Billodeau, was charged by indictment with aggravated sexual assault of a child, to which he pleaded not guilty. See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 22.021 (Vernon Supp.2006). A jury found appellant guilty and assessed punishment at 30 years’ confinement.

On appeal, appellant presents five issues. In his first through fourth issues, appellant contends that the trial court erred by (1) excluding evidence of “other false accusations and threats” made by the complainant “around the same time as the accusations in the alleged offense, in violation of [appellant’s] due process rights under the Texas and United States Constitutions”; (2) limiting appellant’s cross-examination of the complainant, “in violation of [appellant’s] right to confront witnesses under the United States Constitution”; (3) “excluding evidence admissible under Texas Rule of Evidence 613(a) of prior inconsistent statements made by [the complainant], in violation of [appellant’s] due process rights under both the Texas and United States Constitutions”; and (4) excluding evidence that the complainant falsely accused appellant of having sexually assaulted another child. In his fifth issue, appellant contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his conviction because the State failed to show that J.B. was not appellant’s spouse.

We affirm.

Background

In early 2003, the complainant, J.B., who is male and was then eight years of age, had been spending weekends at the home of Robert and Edith Wolfe, close friends of J.B.’s parents. Appellant, who is male and was then 34 years of age, had been living with the Wolfes during that period. Over time, J.B. and appellant became friends. In May of 2003, appellant was struck by a car while riding his bicycle. Upon his release from the hospital, J.B.’s family invited appellant to live with them while he recuperated.

J.B.’s father testified that appellant lived at the their home for two to three weeks and then moved to an apartment in Chan-nelview, where J.B. began spending his weekends visiting appellant. J.B. testified that, one weekend in late July, appellant took him to the Palms Motel in Baytown. At the motel, J.B. was lying in bed on his stomach when appellant kissed him, removed J.B.’s clothing, and engaged in sexual conduct with J.B. J.B. testified that he pushed appellant off of the bed, ran into the bathroom and put his clothes on, and [321]*321ran to the motel office. The office was closed, so he returned to the room. J.B. testified that appellant threatened to kill him if he told anyone. J.B. also testified that appellant drove him to McDonalds for dinner, that they returned to the room and fell asleep, and that J.B.’s father picked J.B. up from the motel at 7:30 the next morning.

Three days later, on July 29, 2003, J.B. told a neighbor, Marilyn Jordan, the details of what had occurred at the motel, and Jordan called the police. J.B.’s father testified that, when he arrived home from work that day and saw the police at Jordan’s house, he asked J.B. what was going on. J.B. became emotional and told him what had occurred the prior weekend at the motel.

That evening, J.B.’s mother took J.B. to Texas Children’s Hospital. Dr. Erin En-dona, a pediatric emergency physician at Texas Children’s Hospital, testified that she examined J.B. and that there were no abnormal physical findings. Dr. Endom also testified that this was not unusual, given that three days had elapsed since the incident.

The next day, Child Protective Services removed J.B. and his sister from the their home and placed them into foster care, where J.B. remained for 11 months before returning home in May of 2004. J.B.’s father testified that J.B. had been in psychiatric care since the age of six and that, since returning from foster care, J.B. had shown sevei’e behavioral changes and demonstrated an intense fear of and anger toward adults.

Appellant disputed that he ever accompanied J.B. to a motel and testified that he could not have driven to a motel or to McDonalds, as J.B. alleged, because he did not have a car during the summer of 2003. Appellant testified that he lived with J.B.’s family from the time of his release from the hospital after his bicycle injury to July 4, 2003, when, having received a settlement from the bicycle accident, he moved back to Louisiana. It was appellant’s testimony that, in late May or early June, while living at J.B.’s home, he purchased a set of remote control cars for J.B. and that, when J.B.’s parents insisted that appellant take the cars back, J.B. became enraged and threw the cars at appellant. It was appellant’s testimony that this incident sparked J.B.’s allegations in the instant offense.

At trial, appellant unsuccessfully sought to admit the testimony of J.B.’s neighbors, Nancy Kline and her adult son Nathan Kline, that J.B. had threatened to falsely accuse them of molestation. By bill of exception, appellant elicited testimony from Nancy that J.B. was at her house over a year after the events of July of 2003 and had used foul language in front of her younger children. Nancy testified that, when she grasped J.B. by the shoulders and scolded him, J.B. became enraged and stated, with a smirk, “I am going to call the cops and tell them that you’re molesting me.” Nathan testified that, on an occasion in November of 2004, when he had refused to allow J.B. to play with Nathan’s younger siblings, J.B. threatened to tell his parents that Nathan had molested him.

Limiting Cross-Examination

In his second issue, appellant contends that the trial court erred by limiting his “cross-examination of [J.B.], in violation of [appellant’s] right to confront witnesses under the United States Constitution, by prohibiting questions about prior accusations and threats made by [J.B.] intended to impeach his credibility.”

Specifically, on cross-examination, appellant sought to impeach J.B.’s credibility by questioning him about his threats to false[322]*322ly accuse Nancy Kline of molestation, as follows:

[Defense counsel]: Back earlier this year, do you remember an incident where Nancy Kline took you aside and washed your mouth out with soap?
[State]: Objection. Relevance.
[J.B.]: Yes.
[Trial Court]: That’s overruled.
[Defense counsel]: Do you know why she did that?
[State]: Objection. Relevance unless it can be established. And it calls for speculation.
[Trial Court]: That’s sustained.
[Defense counsel]: Well, she washed your mouth out, didn’t she, because you had called your sister a b-?
[State]: Objection. Relevance.
[Trial Court]: That’s sustained.
[J.B.]: Yes.
[Defense counsel]: Okay. Now after she washed your mouth out with soap, isn’t it true that you threatened to call CPS and tell them that she had molested you?
[State]: Objection. Relevance.
[Trial Court]: Sustained.

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Related

Billodeau v. State
277 S.W.3d 34 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Billodeau, David Clyde
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009

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263 S.W.3d 318, 2007 WL 2264440, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/billodeau-v-state-texapp-2008.