Cavin Anthony Ludwig v. State

428 S.W.3d 344, 2014 WL 1047042, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 3013
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 18, 2014·No. 07-13-00049-CR·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinions

OPINION

MACKEY K. HANCOCK, Justice.

Appellant, Cavin Anthony Ludwig, appeals from his conviction for the offense of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon1 and resulting sentence of confinement for ten years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (ID-TDCJ). Appellant brings forward two issues on appeal. First, appellant contends that the trial court committed reversible error when it denied his motion for a mistrial. Second, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial. For the reasons expressed herein, we disagree with appellant and will affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Factual and Procedural Background

Appellant has not contested the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s verdict; therefore, we will only address the factual background necessary for our analysis of the issues presented.

[347] Appellant was charged by indictment with intentionally and knowingly causing bodily injury to Annmarie Caine, by stabbing her with a knife. Further, the indictment alleged that appellant did use and exhibit a deadly weapon, to-wit: a knife, that in the manner of its use and intended use was capable of causing death and serious bodily injury.

On January 26, 2012, Amarillo police were called to Caine’s apartment in reference to a domestic dispute. At that time, appellant and Caine were living together. After some initial investigation, it was determined that there had been an argument between the two parties and Caine had suffered some bruising of her arm. Appellant was asked to leave the apartment and did so. No further action was taken.

Subsequently that evening, appellant was contacted by Caine and invited back to the apartment. Once appellant and Caine reunited at the apartment, another argument ensued. Appellant had been drinking throughout the day, and, after the argument began anew, appellant decided to leave. When appellant started to leave, he attempted to take beer that Caine had purchased earlier in the day. This resulted in an escalation of the argument.

In an ensuing physical confrontation and scuffle, appellant and Caine ended up in the kitchen of the apartment. It was at this point that appellant initially stabbed and strangled Caine. As a result of being stabbed and strangled, Caine lost consciousness. When Caine regained consciousness, she realized that appellant had stabbed her several more times. According to Caine’s testimony, it was as she was regaining consciousness that appellant also sexually assaulted her.

Appellant stayed at the apartment with Caine after the assault. Upon awakening the following morning, she found that she had a significant amount of blood on her body and all over the bedding. Appellant refused to allow Caine to be alone; however, she was allowed to shower and dress.

Later that day, Caine convinced appellant to allow her to visit with her mother at the mother’s residence. As Caine explained, this would have been her normal practice and, if she did not go to her mother’s residence, she was afraid her mother would come to the apartment. Appellant went with her to her mother’s residence and the visit went without any problems. Appellant and Caine returned to her apartment later in the day on the 27th of January.

It was not until three days later that Caine finally contacted law enforcement officials regarding the assault. She received medical attention for her stab wounds and the police officers investigating the offense documented the injuries with pictures. At the same time, the police took pictures of the bruises to appellant’s body and the strangulation marks to her neck. During this investigation, the police also documented the presence of blood in the kitchen, bedroom, and on the bedding. The officers arrested appellant at the scene.

During the trial, Officer Michael Morrison of the APD was called to testify. Morrison testified about his observations at the apartment and his discussion with appellant about how Caine had been injured. Specifically, Morrison testified about noting the blood on the bed sheets as well as at other places around the apartment. Eventually, Morrison came to the conclusion that appellant was the perpetrator of the assault. Morrison decided to arrest appellant. It was during his arrest of appellant at the crime scene that Morrison had a conversation with appellant. This conversation with appellant led to the complained-of motion for mistrial.

[348] Prior to Morrison’s testimony, the State advised the trial court that there needed to be a hearing out of the presence of the jury regarding a portion of the officer’s testimony. Out of the presence of the jury, Officer Morrison testified that once he decided to arrest appellant, he read appellant his “Miranda”2 rights to him and appellant refused to make any further statements. The parties agreed that there would be no mention of appellant’s invocation of his right to remain silent or to speak with an attorney.

However, in front of the jury, the following occurred:

Q: So you placed Cavin under arrest.
A: Correct
Q: And was he questioned any more after that?
A: At that point we did read him his Miranda Rights because he was under arrest, and his Miranda Rights were read. And he did not want to waive his right and advised us he would like to speak to a lawyer.

Appellant then lodged an objection that the answer violated the agreement and the court’s order regarding mentioning appellant’s invocation of his right to remain silent and his right to speak to an attorney. The trial court excused the jury at this point. The trial court sustained the objection of appellant to the response given by Morrison. Thereafter, appellant moved for a mistrial.

The trial court and counsel for appellant and the State had a lengthy discussion about the proper steps to be taken. At the end of the discussion, the trial court recessed for the evening with instructions for the attorneys to brief the issue of what the trial court’s response to the motion for a mistrial should be.

The following morning the trial court decided to overrule the motion for mistrial and to instruct the jury to disregard the previous answer given by Morrison. The jury was returned to the courtroom, and the trial court gave the following instruction:

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Cavin Anthony Ludwig v. State, 428 S.W.3d 344, 2014 WL 1047042, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 3013 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

428 S.W.3d 344 (Cavin Anthony Ludwig v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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