Brian Vanorman v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 21, 2016
Docket09-15-00286-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Brian Vanorman v. State (Brian Vanorman 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
Brian Vanorman v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont ____________________ NO. 09-15-00286-CR ____________________

BRIAN VANORMAN, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 221st District Court Montgomery County, Texas Trial Cause No. 15-03-02762 CR

MEMORANDUM OPINION

A grand jury indicted Appellant Brian Vanorman (Vanorman or Appellant)

for burglary of a habitation, with enhancements for prior felony convictions.1 See

Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 30.02(d) (West 2011). The jury found Vanorman guilty on

1 The indictment also charged Vanorman with one count of assault on a public servant. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.01(b)(1) (West Supp. 2015). The jury found Vanorman “not guilty” on this second charge. Because this appeal only raises issues pertaining to the charge of burglary of a habitation, we do not address any of the testimony or evidence relating to the charge of assault on a public servant. See Tex. R. App. P. 47.1. 1 the charge of burglary of a habitation, found the enhancement allegations to be

“true[,]” and sentenced him to sixty years’ confinement. Vanorman timely

appealed, raising three issues concerning the admission of certain evidence. We

affirm.

EVIDENCE AT TRIAL

Testimony of K.F.2

K.F. testified that, on the evening of June 8, 2014, she called 911 to report

that Vanorman, a man whom she had dated, had broken into her home at 636

Durham and had hit her on the head. According to K.F., after she had gone to sleep

that night, she was awakened by “very loud banging” on her front door. She went

to the door, opened the door, and told Vanorman to go away, but he would not

leave and he said “[w]hat do you mean telling me I can’t come in?” K.F. explained

that she then shut and locked the door, and as she was returning to her bedroom,

she heard banging on her roof that sounded like a rock or a brick. K.F. testified that

“[Vanorman] had pulled some of the stone pavers out of [her] flower bed and

thrown them up on [the] roof.” She also saw that he had taken a table and lantern

from her patio and put them in his truck.

2 We identify the victim by her initials. See Tex. Const. art. I, § 30(a)(1) (granting crime victims the “right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim’s dignity and privacy throughout the criminal justice process”). 2 K.F. told the jury that Vanorman started banging on her back door and that

she opened the back door, told him to bring back the table and leave her things

alone, and told him “I have been trying to get rid of you forever, for over a year,

and you won’t go away. You have got to go away.” According to K.F., Vanorman

then threw an alcoholic drink on her, she shut the door, and Vanorman then started

kicking in the back door. K.F. explained that Vanorman kicked the door at least

three times from outside, he broke the glass in the door, and she could see

Vanorman’s foot come through the glass. K.F. saw Vanorman reach through the

broken glass for the doorknob and unlock the door, at which point K.F. went to her

kitchen where she had a phone. K.F. explained that she and Vanorman argued and

he said “[y]ou can’t tell me no.” When K.F. reached for the phone, Vanorman

grabbed her hair and pulled her back.

K.F. called 911 to say that someone had broken into her house and was still

in the house. K.F. testified that, while she was on the phone with 911, Vanorman

hit her on the back of her head, but she did not see what he used to hit her. K.F.

explained that she did not consent to Vanorman being in her house that evening as

follows:

[State’s attorney]: On June 8th of 2014, did Brian [Vanorman] live in your home?

[K.F.]: No, ma’am. 3 [State’s attorney]: Did you allow him into your home?

[K.F.]: No, ma’am.

[State’s attorney]: Did he come in without your consent?

[K.F.]: Yes, ma’am.

[State’s attorney]: And when he hit you, did it cause you pain?

K.F. also told the jury that she met Vanorman in 2008 and started a romantic

relationship with him soon after they met. She explained that Vanorman moved in

with her shortly after they started dating and that Vanorman lived with her for

several months. According to K.F., Vanorman moved out later in 2008 because he

had gotten a job in another city, but K.F. agreed at trial, that she still considered

that they were “boyfriend and girlfriend[]” at the time he moved out.

K.F. testified that, at the end of 2008, Vanorman started drinking more and

his behavior changed. Sometime in 2009, however, K.F. came to believe that her

relationship with Vanorman was not good for her. At some point during 2010, K.F.

decided she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with Vanorman, but she and

Vanorman continued to talk by phone. According to K.F., even after she told

Vanorman to stay out of her life, he would call her every morning about 5:00 a.m.

K.F. became upset because Vanorman would not stop calling. She explained that:

4 The majority of the time I would try and get him to not call or I was rude to him. There were some times that I did talk to him. I mean, sometimes it’s easier just to have a conversation than to be mad. But the majority of the time I would tell him to quit calling me.

At trial, the State approached the bench about questioning K.F. “about some

extraneous[]” events that related to the nature of the relationship between K.F. and

Vanorman, to show how the relationship had “degraded[,]” and also to further

establish that Vanorman was at K.F.’s home without her consent on June 8, 2014.

The court allowed the testimony and overruled defense objections (which we

discuss in further detail later herein). K.F. then testified regarding three events

involving Vanorman that occurred at her home.

(1) The Pizza Hut incident.

K.F. testified that, one night during 2012, Vanorman followed K.F. home

from Pizza Hut, and when he pulled into her driveway, he was so close behind her

that his vehicle blocked her garage door. K.F. told Vanorman to leave, but he

would not leave. According to K.F., Vanorman paced back and forth and

repeatedly asked her about her plans, and she told him “it was none of his

business.” After Vanorman left, she went to her car to get her purse, but her purse

was gone. K.F. testified that she called Vanorman about her purse, and he told her

“If you want your purse, it’s all -- I threw it all out along I-45. You [have] to go get

5 it.” K.F. explained that Vanorman later changed his mind, he brought her purse

back, and he apologized.

(2) The garage door incident.

K.F. testified that, about a month or two after the Pizza Hut incident,

Vanorman came to her home one evening and banged on both the front and back

doors, and Vanorman continued to call her while he was banging on the doors.

According to K.F., she heard banging at the door from her garage into her kitchen,

even though her garage door had been shut and Vanorman did not have a remote to

open the garage door. Once K.F. felt safe and believed that Vanorman had left, she

went into the garage where she noticed “the garage door bent in. And there was an

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