Carmona v. State

880 S.W.2d 227, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 1633, 1994 WL 318074
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 6, 1994
Docket3-93-061-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 880 S.W.2d 227 (Carmona 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
Carmona v. State, 880 S.W.2d 227, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 1633, 1994 WL 318074 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

BEA ANN SMITH, Justice.

Preciliano Carmona appeals his conviction for aggravated sexual assault and indecency with a ten year old child. Act of May 25, 1981, 67th Leg., R.S., ch. 202, § 21.11(a)(1), 1981 Tex.Gen.Laws 471, 472 (Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 21.11(a)(1), since amended); Act of June 19, 1983, 68th Leg., R.S., ch. 977, § 22.-021, 1983 Tex.Gen.Laws 5311, 5315 (Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 22.021, since amended). The jury assessed punishment at confinement for sixty years and a fine of $7,000 for three counts of aggravated sexual assault and confinement for twenty years and a fine of $3,000 for one count of indecency with a child. The sentences are to run concurrently. Appellant raises six points of error com *230 plaining that (1) he was denied due course of law under the Texas and United States Constitutions because the State failed to preserve potentially exculpatory evidence by not subjecting the complainant to a medical examination; (2) the trial court erred in permitting the prosecution to introduce admissions appellant made to a private polygraph operator; (3) he was denied his confrontation rights under the Texas and United States Constitutions because the- complainant was accompanied at the witness stand by her older sister; (4) the trial court erred in not allowing appellant to cross-examine the polygraph operator about his occupation, the circumstances in which the polygraph operator heard appellant’s admissions, and the results of the polygraph examination; and (5) he received ineffective assistance of counsel. We will affirm the conviction.

BACKGROUND

On August 4, 1985, a ten year old female child made an outcry statement to Taylor Police Officer Mark Clark that appellant, her stepfather, had been sexually abusing her at home and that her thirteen year old brother Joe walked in and witnessed the abuse. Joe testified that he saw appellant kneeling in front of the complainant, who was seated on a sofa chair with her legs in the air, her nightgown lifted and her underwear in appellant’s hand. The siblings fled the home on Joe’s bicycle, met their mother, who had been visiting a nearby relative, and returned with her to their home. The complainant’s mother confronted appellant who immediately fled the home. The complainant’s mother testified that approximately three weeks later appellant called her and threatened to hurt a family member if they did not drop the charges filed against him. During the conversation, appellant said he assaulted the child because her mother did not take care of her. The complainant’s sister testified that she overheard the telephone conversation from a separate receiver. Appellant was not arrested for eight years. Appellant returned to Taylor to attend his son’s funeral when another son, a police officer, reminded his father of the charges pending against him. On June 16,1992, appellant turned himself in to the police.

At trial, the complainant told the jury that appellant began sexually abusing her when she was eight years old, after he moved in with her mother. The complainant testified that the abuse started in the summer of 1983, when appellant came into her bathroom while she was bathing and began touching her breasts and vagina. Similar conduct continued in her mother’s bedroom and in the living room. The complainant testified that in December 1983, the sexual abuse escalated; appellant started putting his penis in her anus. The complainant testified that this caused her pain and bleeding, and that on one occasion she wiped semen from her anus when she later went to the bathroom. Appellant would also touch the complainant’s genitals with his penis, and would put his fingers in the complainant’s vagina while she held his penis. The complainant said that she did not report the abuse because appellant threatened to hurt her mother or someone else if she reported anything. She testified that appellant gave her a jacket, money, and a bathing suit for letting him sexually abuse her.

At trial, appellant denied committing the sexual contact and making verbal threats. Appellant explained that on August 4, 1985, he was holding a beer in one hand and a cup in the other when the complainant and her brother suddenly left the house. Appellant stated that his wife did not confront him about the offenses, but that he left the house because they had an argument.

Mike Barton, a private polygraph operator hired by appellant, testified that appellant had admitted numerous acts of sexual abuse involving the complainant during an interview conducted immediately before the polygraph examination. Appellant explained to Barton that the complainant’s brother unexpectedly entered the room just as the complainant lifted her nightgown and requested money.

FAILURE TO ORDER MEDICAL EXAMINATION

Appellant asserts in his first and second points of error that the State’s failure to preserve potentially exculpatory evidence by *231 not subjecting the complainant to a medical examination denied him due course of law as guaranteed by Article I, section 19 of the Texas Constitution and the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Appellant contends that a medical examination might have revealed no evidence of vaginal or anal penetration, and that being denied the possibility of discovering such evidence constituted a violation of due process and due course of law.

The record does not show, however, that appellant ever complained in the trial court of a violation of his rights under the Texas Constitution. Neither does appellant’s brief cite to evidence in the record that such a claim was made. Accordingly, appellant has failed to preserve his first point of error. Tex.RApp.P. 52(a); 74(d), (f).

Appellant did properly raise the complaint that failure to preserve potentially exculpatory evidence violated the United States Constitution and, in the event appellant did properly raise this complaint under the Texas Constitution, we note that this Court has not interpreted Article I, section 19 of the Texas Constitution more expansively than the United States Constitution. See Davis v. State, 831 S.W.2d 426 (Tex.App.—Austin 1992, pet. ref'd); Saldana v. State, 783 S.W.2d 22 (Tex.App.—Austin 1990, no pet.). This Court considers three factors relevant when determining whether the failure to preserve evidence constitutes a federal due process violation: (1) the likelihood that the lost evidence resulted in a violation of due process; (2) the likelihood that the defendant was significantly prejudiced at trial by the absence of the evidence; and (3) the level of governmental culpability. Gardner v. State, 745 S.W.2d 955, 958-59 (Tex.App.—Austin 1988, no pet.). The State has no duty to discover evidence that exonerates the accused, only to preserve evidence possessing an exculpatory value. There can be no violation of this duty if the criminal defendant was able to obtain comparable evidence by other reasonably available means. California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 488, 104 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
880 S.W.2d 227, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 1633, 1994 WL 318074, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carmona-v-state-texapp-1994.