Chafin v. State

95 S.W.3d 549, 2002 WL 31769047
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 21, 2003
Docket03-01-00493-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 95 S.W.3d 549 (Chafin 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
Chafin v. State, 95 S.W.3d 549, 2002 WL 31769047 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

JOHN F. ONION, JR., Justice (Retired).

May a trial court accept a jury’s verdict at the guilt-innocence stage of a trial and then sua sponte reform the verdict at the penalty stage and instruct the jury to punish for a different offense? The answer is no. Does it matter that the original verdict was based on alleged conduct that was not a crime? The answer is still no.

Appellant Dennis Drew Chafin appeals his five convictions for the second degree felony offense of indecency with a child by contact. See Act of May 29, 1993, 73d Leg., R.S., ch. 900, § 1.01, 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 3586, 3615 (Tex. PemCode Ann. § 21.11(a)(1), since amended). The jury found appellant guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child in one count and of indecency with a child in four counts. In accordance with the trial court instructions, the jury assessed punishment for five counts of indecency with a child at eight years’ imprisonment for each count.

We will reverse the one conviction for indecency with a child (reformed sua sponte by the trial court from a conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child) and dismiss because the conduct alleged in the indictment was not a crime at the time of the alleged commission. Because the evidence is legally insufficient to support the other four convictions, we will reverse the judgment and order acquittals.

Points of Error

Appellant advances sixteen points of error. In four points of error, appellant complains that he was charged with conduct that did not constitute the crime of aggravated sexual assault of a child, that the trial court erred in overruling his mistrial motion, and that in the process of the trial he was denied due process of law and due course of law in violation of the federal and state constitutions. Eight points of error challenge the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to sustain four convictions of indecency with a child. In view of our disposition, we will not reach appellant’s other points of error relating to evi-dentiary rulings and a jury charge on parole.

Background

The eight-count indictment charged appellant with four counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and four counts of indecency with a child by contact. Before trial, the State abandoned and waived counts I, III, and IV of the indictment, each alleging the offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The trial court granted the State’s request to renumber the counts remaining in the indictment. Appellant did not object. There was no physical alteration on the face of the indictment. It appears that count II of the indictment was renumbered count I, and counts V, VI, VII, and VIII became counts II, III, IV, and V. This renumbering was *553 used during trial and in the briefs on appeal. 1

Facts

The complainant, C. H., testified at the August 2001 trial that she was sixteen years old and a high school cheerleader. She related that appellant was her maternal aunt’s former husband who had periodically molested her since 1998 when she was about seven or eight years old. The complainant did not live with appellant and his wife, but claimed that the incidents occurred on visits to appellant’s home or at family gatherings. She acknowledged that she did not make an outcry to an adult until the summer of 1999 when she talked to an older stepcousin, H. H., who advised her to tell her mother. The complainant admitted that she was not clear on the dates of the occurrences unless she could tie the date to a particular event that she could remember — such as the videotaping of the birth of kittens in Hidalgo County in 1993. 2 She testified about unadjudicated offenses in Hidalgo and Uvalde Counties in 1993 and other offenses at unspecified times after appellant had moved to Hays County. As to the subject matter of count I, it was established that in the summer of 1996 the complainant had come to Hays County for horseback riding classes; she spent the night at appellant’s home. She related that after she went to bed, appellant came into the room and placed his penis to her mouth, and that she clinched her teeth and refused to open her mouth. There was no penetration. Appellant left the room.

Appellant testified and denied each and every charge. His former wife, Julianne, was married to him at the pertinent times. She testified that she was unaware of any such conduct as alleged and was surprised at the outcry of her niece in 1999. She testified to the divorce and the turmoil within the family resulting from the accusations.

Re: Procedure — Count I

In light of appellant’s contentions that he was improperly charged and convicted of conduct that was not a crime, we examine the procedure regarding the renumbered count I. The indictment was presented January 6, 2000. Count I alleged:

Dennis Drew Chafin hereinafter styled Defendant, on or about the 1st day of July, A.D., 1996, and before the presentment of this indictment, in the county and state aforesaid, did then and there knowingly and intentionally sexually assault [C. H.], by then and there knowingly and intentionally causing his male sexual organ to contact the mouth of the aforesaid [C.H.] who was then and there a child younger than 14 years of age and not the spouse of the said Defendant.

The undisputed evidence showed that the conduct occurred in the summer of 1996. Tracking the indictment, the trial court submitted count I to the jury. There was no submission of a lesser included offense nor a request by either party for such a submission. The jury returned a general verdict finding appellant guilty “as alleged in Count I of the indictment.” This verdict at the guilt-innocence stage of the trial was accepted by the trial court and filed.

*554 At the penalty stage of the trial, the trial court announced that after “some research” and because of the “time frame” it would, sua sponte, reform the jury’s verdict on count I to show a conviction for the “lesser included offense of indecency with a child.” The State expressed its concern, and appellant’s motion for a mistrial was overruled. The jury was informed that the punishment hearing would proceed with count I being a conviction for the “lesser included offense of indecency with a child.” The trial court in its charge on punishment authorized punishment on count I for indecency with a child, a second-degree felony. See Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 12.33 (West 1994) (two to twenty years’ imprisonment and a fíne up to $10,000). The jury was told that appellant had been “found guilty by the jury of the offense of indecency with a child (5 counts).” In accordance with the instructions at the penalty stage of the trial, the jury’s punishment verdict reflected that it had found appellant guilty of indecency with a child “as alleged in count I of the indictment” and assessed his punishment at eight years’ imprisonment. No fíne was assessed.

The formal judgment and sentence reflected the jury’s original verdict on count I at the guilt-innocence stage of the trial and then added:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Julie Michelle Stastny v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Richard Turner v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Gallegos, Victor Manuel
Texas Supreme Court, 2015
State v. Victor Manuel Gallegos
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2015
State v. Victor Manuel Gallegos
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Justin Sanders v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Bobby Blanton v. State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
Carla Jo Keck v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
State v. Robert G. Barstow
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Taylor v. State
268 S.W.3d 752 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Harmon Luther Taylor v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Pedersen v. State
237 S.W.3d 882 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Jerry Lee Pedersen v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
Hammock v. State
211 S.W.3d 874 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Jeremy Lynn Hammock v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Tom Edward Horton v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Robert Jonathan Bigler v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006
Ex Parte Chafin
180 S.W.3d 257 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Ex Parte Dennis Chafin
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 S.W.3d 549, 2002 WL 31769047, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chafin-v-state-texapp-2003.