Clay v. State

518 S.W.2d 550, 1975 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 839
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 5, 1975
Docket49250
StatusPublished
Cited by69 cases

This text of 518 S.W.2d 550 (Clay v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clay v. State, 518 S.W.2d 550, 1975 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 839 (Tex. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

DAVIS, Commissioner.

Appeal is taken from a conviction for rape. Punishment was assessed by the court at twenty-five years.

At the outset, appellant contends that the evidence is insufficient to support the conviction in that there is no showing that there was penetration by appellant’s sexual organ.

Appellant argues that the prosecutrix did not testify that penetration was achieved by appellant’s privates and that her testimony was just as consistent with the hypothesis that penetration was had with a screwdriver or with appellant’s fingers.

The record reflects that on April 13, 1973, the prosecutrix was confronted by the appellant in her apartment. The appellant threatened to kill her if she screamed. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it so as to throw her to the floor and dragged her into the bedroom, where he tied her hands behind her with nylon hose. He placed a screwdriver at the base of her neck and repeated his threat to kill her if she screamed. Appellant took off all of the prosecutrix’ clothes and then undressed himself.

The prosecutrix’ testimony as it relates to the issue of penetration is as follows:

“Q. Okay. And, then what happened?
******
“A. He turned me over and tried vaginally.
“Q. This was on the floor ?
“A. Yes.
“Q. All right. Did he achieve any sort of penetration ?
“A. Yes.
* * * * * *
“Q. Before I go any further, ma’am, while you were on the carpet — on the floor, there was vaginal penetration, right ?
“A. Yes, sir.
* * * * * *
"Q. Okay. All right, did he have a climax; could you tell?
“A. No, he didn’t stay there long.
* ⅜ * * * *
“A, He got me up and sat down on the bed, and he wanted me to do it orally.
* * * * * *
*552 “Q. Okay. And, then what occurred next?
“A. He decided he didn’t want it that way, either. He kept changing around, and the last place was on the floor, vaginally.
“Q. On your back or your stomach?
“A. My back.
“Q. Okay. And there was penetration that time, also ?
“A. Yes.
“Q. All right. At that point, could you tell whether or not he climaxed ?
“A. I don’t know definitely that he had one.
⅜ ⅜ ⅜ ⅜ ⅜ ⅜
“Q. And, you’re on your back with your hands tied behind you, and he has entered you vaginally?
“A. Yes.
“Q. All right. Throughout the whole time, ma’am, are you telling us he had the screwdriver in his hand all this time?
“A. Yes.”

Dr. Ruben Santos, Bexar County Medical Examiner, testified that he examined the prosecutrix on the day in question. He testified that there was sperm in the prose-cutrix’ vagina that had been deposited there as a result of intercourse. Dr. Santos stated that he “found some ligature marks around the wrists” of the prosecutrix.

Upon cross-examination, the prosecutrix was asked if appellant “looks like the man that raped you, or that this man is the man that raped you.” Prosecutrix answered, “This man [appellant] is the man that raped me.”

Appellant urges that the sperm found by the medical examiner may have been deposited by the husband of prosecu-trix, who had left home earlier in the day. In Harris v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 473 S.W.2d 37, this Court held that complainant’s testimony that appellant had sexual intercourse with her was sufficient to establish penetration. While rape has a legal connotation, we see no distinction in the two terms insofar as their showing penetration. We conclude that the prosecutrix’ testimony that appellant was the “man that raped me” was sufficient to prove penetration. See Rhynes v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 479 S.W.2d 70. Further, penetration may he proved by circumstantial evidence. Nilsson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 477 S.W.2d 592; Jackson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 493 S.W.2d 860. A review of the testimony of the prosecutrix relative to penetration and whether appellant had a climax negates appellant’s hypothesis that penetration was achieved with instrumentalities other than the sexual organ of appellant. The testimony of the medical examiner reflects penetration. We find that the evidence disproves every outstanding reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt of appellant, and conclude that the evidence was sufficient to support the conviction.

Appellant contends that the court erred by admitting into evidence the fruits of an illegal search.

The record reflects that appellant’s locker was searched at Fort Sam Houston, and a comb and lighter were found which were subsequently introduced into evidence and identified by the prosecutrix as having been taken from her apartment. Appellant argues that since appellant was in jail at the time in question, there were no exigent circumstances to justify a warrantless search. Appellant further urges that permission granted officers by one Captain Keller to search appellant’s locker was not sufficient under military law. Appellant says that under United States v. Grisby, 4 Cir., 335 F.2d 652, only the commanding officer of the installation or those to whom he has delegated authority may authorize a search. Appellant argues that the record in the instant case fails to reflect any dele *553 gation of such authority by the commanding officer to Keller.

Assuming, arguendo, that the complained-of search was illegal, we conclude that the admission of the evidence was harmless error. In arriving at this conclusion, we are mindful that the error in question is one of constitutional dimension, and the error may not be declared to he harmless unless the reviewing court is able to declare that it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 87 S.Ct. 824, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967); Harrington v. California, 395 U.S. 250, 89 S.Ct. 1726, 23 L.Ed.2d 284 (1969); Holcomb v.

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

Related

People v. Riosen
2023 Guam 23 (Supreme Court of Guam, 2023)
Destra Deshawn Cook v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013
Stringer v. State
276 S.W.3d 95 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Francis William Stringer v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Abraham Alberto Vizcarra v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Jodie Moore v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007
Smith, Calvin Joseph
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007
Smith v. State
227 S.W.3d 753 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Davis v. State
180 S.W.3d 277 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
DuBose v. State
977 S.W.2d 877 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Bruton v. State
921 S.W.2d 531 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1996)
McMillian v. State
873 S.W.2d 62 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Clarke v. State
813 S.W.2d 654 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Verell v. State
749 S.W.2d 197 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1988)
McBride v. State
706 S.W.2d 723 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Chase v. State
706 S.W.2d 717 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Sifford v. State
704 S.W.2d 567 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Lewis v. State
693 S.W.2d 771 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Carey v. State
677 S.W.2d 821 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)
Lowry v. State
671 S.W.2d 601 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1984)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
518 S.W.2d 550, 1975 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 839, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clay-v-state-texcrimapp-1975.