Charles Lee Hodges v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided December 18, 2014·No. 02-13-00073-CR·Published

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS

SECOND DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH

NO. 02-13-00073-CR

CHARLES LEE HODGES APPELLANT V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS STATE

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FROM THE 297TH DISTRICT COURT OF TARRANT COUNTY TRIAL COURT NO. 1181223D

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MEMORANDUM OPINION1

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I. INTRODUCTION

Appellant Charles Lee Hodges appeals his conviction for indecency with a child. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 21.11(a)(1) (West 2011). In three points, he argues that the trial court erred by failing to include an instruction in the jury

1 See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.

charge on the State’s election and abused its discretion by admitting inadmissible opinion and hearsay testimony. We will affirm.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Hodges dated and eventually lived with Sally2 for several years beginning in 1994, and Sally became pregnant with Hodges’s child during that time. Hodges and Sally separated before the child was born. Sally gave birth to Mary in September 1997; Hodges went to the hospital for the birth but had no further contact with Mary until she initiated contact with him 2004, when she was approximately six and a half or seven years old.

Hodges began having supervised visitations with Mary in 2004. He was married to Lana by that time. After several months, Hodges was awarded standard visitation, with Mary staying with him and Lana every other weekend.

In 2007, Mary saw photographs of Hodges’ wedding and asked him about “French kissing.” Hodges explained what it was and demonstrated by kissing her and putting his tongue in her mouth. Mary later “French kissed” her mother and said that Hodges had shown her how to kiss. Sally reported the incident to Child Protective Services (CPS), and after an investigation, CPS “ruled out” sexual abuse.

2 To protect the anonymity of the child in this case, we will use aliases to refer to all individuals named herein with the exception of the appellant. See Tex. R. App. P. 9.10(a)(3); McClendon v. State, 643 S.W.2d 936, 936 n.1 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1982).

In 2009, when Mary was nine years old, Sally began to notice that Mary was clingy when she came home from weekends at Hodges’s house. Mary often called Sally from her bedroom in Hodges’s house and asked Sally to stay on the line in case Mary needed her. That year, Mary attended a church youth retreat at Great Wolf Lodge. At the retreat, Mary confided to her small group leader, Ann, that she was confused about her sexuality and said that it was because of her dad. Mary told Ann that Hodges had shown her “inappropriate places” on her body, had touched her there, and had expected her to do the same. Mary also said that Hodges “had French-kissed her on the cheek at Six Flags and expected her to do the same thing back.” Ann took Mary to find the children’s pastor from the church, Jessie, who was also at the retreat. Mary told Jessie that she thought she was a lesbian because she did not like it when boys touched her. When Jessie asked which boys had touched her, Mary said, “not boys . . . my dad.” Jessie then consulted with another adult leader at the retreat, Mark. While talking to Jessie and Mark, Mary said that Hodges “had kissed her with his tongue, that he had touched her down there, which she motioned with her hands to [be] her private parts, and that he helped her with her bra.” Mary also said that Hodges had kissed her “mouth to mouth” and that his tongue had touched her tongue. Mary said that anything that happened between her and Hodges occurred “over a year ago.” Mark and Jessie contacted Sally and CPS.

Sally went to Great Wolf Lodge and found her daughter crying and “extremely upset.” Mark and Jessie told Sally what Mary had told them. Mary

kept apologizing to her mother and said that she could not remain silent any longer but did not want to hurt her dad.

Hodges called Sally after the retreat to say he was coming to visit Mary, but Sally refused. After Hodges got angry, Sally told him “that there was an investigation going on” and gave him the phone number for the investigating detective. Sally did not tell Hodges what the investigation was about. Hodges called Detective Aaron Martinez, and the detective recorded the conversation. Although the detective had not yet told Hodges the subject of the investigation, Hodges made comments that made the detective realize that Hodges “automatically assum[ed]” that the investigation involved “something sexual” with Mary. Hodges told the detective that Mary had been acting out sexually. He said that Mary ran around naked at her mother’s house and tried to do the same at his house. Hodges also told the detective about an incident when Mary “put [his] hand on her crotch” while the two were sitting next to each other watching TV. Hodges said that he immediately pulled his hand back and told Mary that he was not comfortable with that behavior. Hodges told the detective that he was going to stop contact with Mary “out of self-preservation” because her conduct scared him.

Hodges was ultimately charged with one count of indecency with a child by touching Mary’s female sexual organ and with one count of indecency with a child by touching Mary’s breast.

At trial, Mary testified that the first incident with Hodges that made her “uncomfortable” occured when she asked him how people “kissed at weddings” when she was nine years old. Hodges demonstrated by putting his tongue in her mouth. Mary testified that Hodges “French kissed” her “almost every other weekend.” He kissed her in public once while at Six Flags; they were in line for a snack, he was holding her in his arms, and he kissed her cheek with his tongue. Another time, Hodges lay on top of her in his bedroom, “tongue kiss[ed]” her ear, and told her to do the same to him. When Mary told him that she did not know how to do that, he “seemed a little mad,” which made Mary feel bad. Sometimes Hodges would be in Mary’s room when she got out of the shower and would watch her get dressed. Hodges would get mad if she ever locked her bedroom door.3 Mary said that Hodges gave her the “birds and the bees talk” when she was nine. Hodges explained sexual intercourse and masturbation to her. Hodges touched himself to demonstrate masturbation, or as he called it, “pleasurization.” He told Mary that all guys will want her body, and he moved his hands “[o]ver [her] curves.”

Regarding the evidence to support count one of the indictment, which alleged that Hodges committed indecency with a child by touching Mary’s female sexual organ, Mary testified,

3 At trial, Lana testified that the doorknob to Mary’s bedroom did not have a lock on it, and a photograph of the door was introduced into evidence.

Q. Now, were there times that [Hodges] touched you on your body parts in a way that made you feel uncomfortable?

A. Yes, ma’am. Q. And can you tell us where you were when this would happen? A. In the living room at his house. Q. So do you mean in the living room of [his] house . . . ? A. Yes, ma’am. Q. And where would you be in the living room?

A. We would be sitting on the couch and we would be on the left side of the couch.

Q. Did he sit there a lot? A. Yes, ma’am. Q. And what would you be doing? A. I would be watching TV. Q. So would he be watching TV as well? A. Yes, ma’am.

Q. So the two of you are on the couch watching TV, and what would he do?

A. He would put his arm around me down my breast and down to my private.

Q. When you say your private, are you referring to your genitals or female sexual organ?

A. Yes, ma’am. Q. Because you’re 15 now and you know what that is.

A. Yes, ma’am.

Q. And you said he would put his hand down so that it touched your breast and then touched your genitals?

A. Yes, ma’am.

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