Chase v. State

750 S.W.2d 41, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1213, 1988 WL 51914
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 5, 1988
Docket2-87-063-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 750 S.W.2d 41 (Chase 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
Chase v. State, 750 S.W.2d 41, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1213, 1988 WL 51914 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

KELTNER, Justice.

This is an appeal by James Wesley Chase (Chase) from a conviction for aggravated sexual assault. See TEX.PENAL CODE ANN. sec. 22.021(a) (Vernon Supp.1988). The jury found Chase guilty of the offense, and the court assessed punishment at twenty-five years in the Texas Department of Corrections.

*43 We affirm.

Chase lived in a trailer park in Park Springs, Texas. He and his wife were friends of Mr. and Mrs. S_, who had three daughters. On May 30, 1986, one of the girls, eight-year-old J.S., was left at the Chase home by her father, who left to go meet her mother at a nightclub.

During his absence, Chase and J.S. were alone the majority of the time. J.S. testified that she was wearing shorts at the time. She stated that Chase wet his finger and placed it under her shorts.

J.S. was aided in her testimony with the use of anatomically correct dolls. Specifically, the dolls were used to aid J.S. in identification of parts of the human body. The prosecutor pointed to various body parts and asked J.S. to identify them, such as hand, eye, hair, etc. When referring to the vagina, the following exchange between J.S. and the prosecutor took place:

Q. Okay. And on — Still referring to State’s Exhibit No. 1, what is this part of the doll?
A. Wee, wee.
Q. The wee wee?
All right.
MR. SMITH: Your Honor, would you certify for the record that State’s Exhibit No. 1 is an anatomically correct doll.
THE COURT: I’ll so certify.
MR. SMITH: All right. And would the Court certify that, as far as her term “wee wee,” that this would be the vaginal- area of the anatomically correct doll in State’s Exhibit Ño. 1.
THE COURT: The record will so reveal.

Thereafter, J.S. testified that Chase twice licked his finger and inserted it into her “wee wee.” She next testified that Chase twice “touched” her wee wee with his tongue.

J.S. testified that Chase took her into the house and showed her pornographic magazines and began to masturbate in her presence.

Chase was tried before a jury and found guilty of aggravated sexual assault. The court assessed punishment at twenty-five years in the Texas Department of Corrections.

Chase brings two points of error on this appeal.

In his first point of error, Chase claims there was insufficient evidence to sustain a conviction for aggravated sexual assault because there was no sworn testimony of contact or penetration of the female sex organ.

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction based upon direct evidence, the evidence is viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict. See Flournoy v. State, 668 S.W.2d 380, 383 (Tex.Crim.App.1984). The critical inquiry is whether, after so viewing the evidence, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Bonham v. State, 680 S.W.2d 815, 819 (Tex.Crim.App.1984); Wilson v. State, 654 S.W.2d 465, 471 (Tex.Crim.App.1983) (opinion on reh’g).

The sufficiency of the evidence is a question of law. The issue on appeal is not whether we as a court believe the prosecution’s evidence or believe that the defense evidence “outweighs” the State’s evidence. See Wicker v. State, 667 S.W.2d 137, 143 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 892, 105 S.Ct. 268, 83 L.Ed.2d 204 (1984). If there is evidence which establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and if the trier of fact believes that evidence, we are not in a position to reverse the judgment on sufficiency of the evidence grounds. See id.

Specifically, Chase contends that the prosecutor’s request that the trial court certify that the area referred to by J.S. as the “wee wee” was the vaginal area of the doll, is no evidence. Chase argues that all testimony must come from the witness stand and prosecutor’s statements did not constitute evidence.

It is true that the arguments of counsel are not evidence upon which a verdict can be based. However, the trial court is allowed to clarify the record when the spoken word does not reflect true trial proceedings. For example, it is common and *44 recommended practice for counsel to request the judge to allow the record to reflect that a witness has identified the defendant by pointing to and identifying clothes worn by the defendant. See Rohlfing v. State, 612 S.W.2d 598, 601 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1981), n. 2.

In the instant case, the State requested the court to clarify for the record that the area referred to as the “wee wee” was the vaginal area of the anatomically correct doll that J.S. had identified.

Further, as this court has previously held, in examining the testimony of the child involved, courts have kept in mind a child’s lack of technical knowledge in accurately describing the parts of the body. Bryant v. State, 685 S.W.2d 472, 474 (Tex.App.—Fort Worth 1985, pet. ref’d). In Bryant, we held that a child’s testimony that the defendant “put his hand between my legs” was sufficient evidence to show that he intentionally touched the child’s vagina. Id. at 475.

Therefore, the testimony of J.S. that Chase stuck his finger in her “wee wee” was sufficient evidence, standing alone, to sustain a conviction.

In viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, we hold there was sufficient evidence of contact or penetration of the female sex organ. Accordingly, the first point of error is overruled.

In his second point of error, Chase complains that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence. We take this point of error as a claim of insufficiency of the evidence and as a result, will view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict.

Chase makes a number of different arguments under this point of error.

First, Chase complains there is no corroborating testimony, no “outcry witness,” and no medical evidence to support the testimony of J.S. However, the uncorroborated testimony of the victim of a sexual offense is sufficient, by itself, if the victim has reported the offense to another within six months. TEX.CODE CRIM. PROC.ANN. art. 38.07 (Vernon 1979); see also Heckathorne v. State, 697 S.W.2d 8

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Bluebook (online)
750 S.W.2d 41, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 1213, 1988 WL 51914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chase-v-state-texapp-1988.