Brown v. State

303 S.W.3d 310, 2009 WL 824596
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 13, 2010
Docket12-07-00429-CR, 12-07-00430-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 303 S.W.3d 310 (Brown 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
Brown v. State, 303 S.W.3d 310, 2009 WL 824596 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

SAM GRIFFITH, Justice.

Kevin Mark Brown appeals from his two convictions for intoxication manslaughter. Appellant raises six issues on appeal. We affirm.

Background

On April 14, 2004, Appellant’s Lincoln Navigator collided with the Honda Accord driven by Amy Beth Anderson on Highway 47, outside of Wills Point, Texas. Appellant was intoxicated, and Anderson was killed. Anderson was pregnant, and her unborn child was also killed. Two individuals saw the events leading up to the wreck. Kirk Burns was working at his welding shop when he saw Appellant’s vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. He did not see the wreck, but he heard it and went to give aid. Justin Nation was following Anderson’s vehicle at a distance and observed the wreck. Nation thought the wreck occurred in Appellant’s lane, with Anderson having crossed over the center line.

Wills Point police officer Donny Oliver was the first police officer on the scene. The investigation was taken over shortly thereafter by Texas Department of Public *313 Safety Trooper Jason Matura. Oliver and Matura determined that the wreck had occurred in Anderson’s lane and that Appellant was intoxicated.

A Van Zandt County grand jury indicted Appellant for the felony offenses of intoxication manslaughter for the deaths of Anderson and her unborn child. At trial, Appellant presented expert testimony from Gary Jernigan, a mechanical engineer, about the wreck. Jernigan testified that he had conducted a computer simulation of the accident and that the wreck could not have occurred in Anderson’s lane of travel. Instead, it was his opinion that Anderson was traveling in Appellant’s lane of travel when the collision occurred. The police officers testified that the wreck occurred in Anderson’s lane. The jury found Appellant guilty and assessed punishment in each case at imprisonment for ten years and a fine of $7,500. This appeal followed.

Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his first and second issues, Appellant argues that the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict. Specifically, he argues that the wreck occurred in his lane and that the accident was Anderson’s fault.

Standard of Review

The due process guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment requires that a conviction be supported by legally sufficient evidence: See Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 315-16, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2786-87, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); Ross v. State, 133 S.W.3d 618, 620 (Tex.Crim.App.2004); Willis v. State, 192 S.W.3d 585, 592 (Tex.App.-Tyler 2006, pet. ref'd). Evidence is not legally sufficient if, when viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict, no rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. See Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. at 2789; see also Rollerson v. State, 227 S.W.3d 718, 724 (Tex.Crim.App.2007).

While legal sufficiency review is all that is required by the U.S. Constitution, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has determined that the Texas Constitution requires further review of the factual sufficiency of the evidence. Clewis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126, 129-30 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). Factual sufficiency review differs from legal sufficiency review only slightly. See Marshall v. State, 210 S.W.3d 618, 625 (Tex.Crim.App.2006). In a factual sufficiency review, we review the evidence without the light most favorable to the verdict and we are authorized, “albeit to a very limited degree,” to disagree with the jury’s resolution of contested factual issues. See id.; Watson v. State, 204 S.W.3d 404, 414, 417 (Tex.Crim.App.2006). In a review of the factual sufficiency of the evidence, we will conclude that the evidence is insufficient only if the great weight and preponderance of the evidence contradicts the jury’s verdict or the verdict is clearly wrong and manifestly unjust. See Rollerson, 227 S.W.3d at 724; Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 417.

Under either standard, our role is that of appellate review, and the fact finder is the principal judge of the weight and credibility of a witness’s testimony. Wesbrook v. State, 29 S.W.3d 103, 111-12 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). The fact finder may choose to believe all, some, or none of a witness’s testimony. Sharp v. State, 707 S.W.2d 611, 614 (Tex.Crim.App.1986).

The State was required to prove that Appellant operated a motor vehicle in a public place, was intoxicated, and, by reason of that intoxication, caused the death of another by accident or mistake. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 49.08(a) (Vernon Supp. 2008).

*314 Analysis

The central issue in this case at trial, and with respect to the sufficiency of the evidence, is whether the wreck occurred in Appellant’s lane of traffic or in Amy Anderson’s lane. The only disinterested person who witnessed the wreck testified that it occurred in Appellant’s lane, with Anderson having crossed into Appellant’s lane. The State attacked this testimony by pointing out that the witness admitted he was adjusting the radio in his car at the time of the wreck and was wrong about the location of the wreck and the striping on the roadway.

The State’s evidence as to the location of the wreck came principally from Jason Matura. Matura’s conclusion that the wreck occurred in Anderson’s lane was based on his evaluation of the resting position of the vehicles as well as the marks made to the roadway by the cars after the collision. Matura testified that there were a number of marks in the roadway that were the result of Anderson’s lighter vehicle being compressed onto the roadway at the point of impact. Matura also testified that he could approximate the point of impact based on those markings. Additionally, he testified there were tire marks that were consistent with the collision having occurred in Anderson’s lane. Matura’s theory was that Appellant was unable, due to his intoxication, to maintain his lane as he began to enter a gentle rightward curve in the roadway. Instead he drifted into Anderson’s lane and was attempting to correct back to his lane when he struck Anderson’s vehicle in an offset head-on collision. The wreck caused his Lincoln Navigator to roll onto its side and come to rest back in his original lane. Officer Donny Oliver also testified that the wreck occurred in Anderson’s lane. He had less training than Matura, but his conclusion was based on the marks in the roadway as well as vehicle fluids he observed in the roadway. He observed the fluids in Anderson’s lane, and he theorized that the fluid was discharged at or near the point of impact.

Appellant hired Gary Jernigan of SEAL Corporation in Tyler, Texas to reconstruct the accident.

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303 S.W.3d 310, 2009 WL 824596, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-state-texapp-2010.