Blevins v. State

6 S.W.3d 566, 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 3537, 1999 WL 270324
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided April 27, 1999·No. No. 12-97-00192-CR·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinions

HADDEN, Justice.

Appellant, Dominic Blevins, appeals his conviction for burglary of a habitation. After finding Appellant guilty, the jury assessed his punishment at twenty years’ confinement. In two points of error, Appellant asserts the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the judgment. We will reverse the trial court’s judgment and remand with instructions to enter a judgment of acquittal.

Debbie Alonzo returned home from work on December 7, 1995 to find that someone had broken into her house and stolen many items including guns, jewelry, clothing and a VCR. The point of entry was a master bedroom window which had been broken out. Police positively identified three fingerprints on the glass of the broken window as belonging to Appellant. Three rifles belonging to the Alonzos were later found under the floor of an abandoned house owned by Appellant’s stepfather. No other stolen property was ever recovered.

In his first point of error, Appellant contends the evidence is legally insufficient to prove he is criminally responsible for the offense of burglary of a habitation. He asserts that there is no testimony placing his fingerprints inside the home and therefore no evidence that he entered the burglarized home. Further, Appellant argues, the State failed to prove he had the requisite intent to commit theft, or had personal, recent, or unexplained possession of the stolen property from which guilt could be inferred.

The standard for reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence is whether, viewing the evidence in the fight most favorable to the jury’s verdict, any rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt the essential elements of [568] the offense charged. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). The standard of review is the same for both direct and circumstantial evidence cases. Green v. State, 840 S.W.2d 394, 401 (Tex.Cr.App.1992), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 1020, 113 S.Ct. 1819, 123 L.Ed.2d 449 (1993). A finding that the evidence is legally insufficient requires reversal and bars a retrial. Greene v. Massey, 437 U.S. 19, 24, 98 S.Ct. 2151, 57 L.Ed.2d 15 (1978); Graham v. State, 643 S.W.2d 920, 924 (Tex.Cr.App.1981).

A person commits the offense of burglary of a habitation if, without the consent of the owner, he enters a habitation with intent to commit a theft. Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 30.02(a)(1) (Vernon 1994). Generally, fingerprint evidence alone will be sufficient to sustain a conviction if the evidence shows that the prints were necessarily made at the time of the burglary. Bowen v. State, 460 S.W.2d 421, 423 (Tex.Cr.App.1970). An important factor is the accessibility of the fingerprinted object to the defendant. Phelps v. State, 594 S.W.2d 434, 436 (Tex.Cr.App.1980); Roster v. State, 773 S.W.2d 763 (Tex.App. — Beaumont 1989, pet. ref'd).

When there is independent evidence of a burglary, the unexplained personal possession of recently stolen property will support an inference of guilt of the offense in which the property was stolen. Hardesty v. State, 656 S.W.2d 73, 76 (Tex.Cr.App.1983). The evidence does not raise an inference of guilt of burglary based on the defendant’s personal possession of stolen goods where the police find the stolen property in a place where others have an equal right and facility of access. Vasquez v. State, 804 S.W.2d 606, 610 (Tex.App.— Dallas 1991, no pet.).

The point of entry was a bedroom window. Officer Michael Tipton testified that he lifted a total of ten fingerprints from pieces of broken glass from that window, some of which were still in the windowsill and some of which were on the ground. Tipton specifically testified that he lifted prints from both the inside and outside of one piece of glass that was still in the window and that it had “one print exactly opposite each other close to the edge.” However, Tipton did not testify as to which of the ten prints were from the inside surfaces of the glass. Officer Connie Castle of the City of Tyler crime lab identified only three of the ten fingerprints, State’s Exhibits 8, 9, and 10, as fingerprints belonging to Appellant. However, she was unable to identify the seven remaining prints because they were smeared.

Police officers found three of the rifles taken from the Alonzo home in a house owned by Appellant’s stepfather, Lucious Frazier. The guns were found under the kitchen floor, visible due to the floor’s rotten condition. Frazier testified that, although he, his wife, and Appellant had lived there at one time, now the house was vacant, was not locked, and had missing windows. The evidence showed that people had been going in and out of the house.

Our review of the record shows that the State did not prove that Appellant possessed any property stolen from the Alonzos. Frazier’s house was vacant, unlocked, and frequented by unknown persons. The evidence that the Alonzos’ guns were found in Appellant’s stepfather’s house does not show possession of the stolen property by Appellant. Further, there was no testimony that anyone saw Appellant at the burglarized home at the time of the burglary, at Frazier’s house, or in actual possession of any stolen property at any location. Therefore, the State cannot rely on an inference of guilt arising from possession of recently stolen property. See Vasquez, 804 S.W.2d at 610.

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Blevins v. State, 6 S.W.3d 566, 1999 Tex. App. LEXIS 3537, 1999 WL 270324 (Tex. Ct. App. 1999).

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