Cornelius Ashley Palmer v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 19, 2021·No. 05-19-01135-CR·Published

Opinion

Affirmed as Modified; Opinion Filed March 19, 2021

In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-19-01135-CR

CORNELIUS ASHLEY PALMER, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 292nd Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. F-1814053-V

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Schenck, Smith, and Garcia Opinion by Justice Schenck A jury found appellant Cornelius Ashley Palmer guilty of continuous sexual

abuse of a child under the age of 14 and assessed punishment at sixty-five years confinement. In four issues, appellant urges the trial court erred in (1) failing to instruct the jury that appellant was not eligible for parole, (2) (3) in allowing the State to show clips of a video recording of a family trip into the woods during the guilt-innocence phase of trial, and (4) in denying his request for a mistrial based upon alleged juror misconduct. In one cross issue, the State requests that we reform the judgment to show that sex-offender registration requirements apply and that the

complainant was twelve years old at the time of the offense. We modify the trial court’s judgment and affirm as modified. Because all issues are settled in law, we issue this memorandum opinion. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.4.

BACKGROUND

The complainant, L.P., was born on September 24, 2004. She is appellant’s biological daughter. L.P. lived with her maternal grandmother until appellant gained custody of her at the age of seven. She then began living with appellant and his girlfriend. Appellant and his girlfriend later had a son, C.P. Appellant’s other daughter from another relationship, O.P., lived with appellant’s aunt Linda. For a time, O.P. stayed at appellant’s house on the weekends.

After L.P. entered middle school, appellant began saying things to her that made her uncomfortable, including that she was not allowed to have a boyfriend because he was her boyfriend, and that her legs looked “nice” when she shaved them. Appellant repeatedly asked L.P. if she thought he was attractive and beat L.P. as a regular form of punishment, including when he found out that she had a boyfriend.

Appellant also began touching her in ways that made her uncomfortable. The first instance L.P. recalled occurred when she was twelve years old on a summer night after the family returned home from a party. Appellant and his girlfriend were separated at that time. L.P. recalled that appellant was very drunk and made her sleep downstairs with him on a couch in the living area. Appellant touched L.P. in

a manner all concede to be unlawful that night and, from that point forward, it seemed to L.P. like the abuse occurred almost every day.

L.P. recalled that on October 1, 2017, she, appellant, and C.P. visited appellant’s brother. They went hiking in the woods and appellant and his brother shot guns. Appellant made a recording during the outing and posted it on a social media site. While driving home, appellant unlawfully touched L.P. Once they arrived home, the abuse continued until L.P. told appellant to stop. Appellant became angry and stormed off. The abuse stopped for a couple of months but resumed sometime around Christmas.

Shortly thereafter, L.P. told her sister O.P. about the abuse. O.P. relayed her conversation with L.P. to her great aunt Linda, and Linda called L.P. to ask if the allegations were true. L.P. admitted there were true and Linda told L.P. she needed to tell someone. L.P. responded, stating she was not ready to do so because she was afraid of her father. On January 17, 2018, L.P. told her school counselor about the abuse. L.P. was in the seventh grade at that time. The counselor reported the abuse and L.P. was placed into the custody of Child Protective Services after being interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center.

Detective Michael Hernandez of the Cedar Hill Police Department observed L.P.’s forensic interview while other detectives made contact with appellant. Appellant agreed to accompany Detective Hernandez’s partner to the Cedar Hill police state for an interview. After being read his Miranda rights, appellant agreed

to speak with Detective Hernandez and denied L.P.’s allegations of sexual abuse. Appellant appeared to be intoxicated or under the influence of some substance during the interview. Detective Hernandez asked appellant about the outing into the woods that L.P. had described during her interview. He confirmed that he, his brother, L.P., C.P. and another family member were present that day and that he and his brother discharged firearms. At the conclusion of the interview, Detective Hernandez placed appellant under arrest.

At trial, the State’s witnesses were L.P., O.P., Linda, Detective Hernandez, Kimberly Skidmore—the forensic interviewer, Pamela Simmons—the forensic nurse examiner at Cook Children’s Medical Center who performed an examination on L.P., and Dr. Katrina Cook—an expert in the area of child sexual abuse. Appellant’s sole witness was an attorney who filed a lawsuit at appellant’s request in 2018 to establish the paternity of O.P. Through that attorney appellant attempted to suggest Linda may have been motivated to coax L.P. into making the allegations of abuse because of the threat appellant posed to her continued possession of O.P. That attorney acknowledged that the suit was not served on Linda and had been dismissed. At the conclusion of the guilt-innocence phase of trial, the jury found appellant guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

During the punishment phase of trial, the State called L.P., Linda, Sarah Switzer—a licensed professional counselor who had provided therapy for L.P., and Darrell Doty—an investigator with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office,

who compared fingerprint cards provided to him, to establish the fact that appellant had prior convictions for possession of one gram or more but less than four grams of cocaine and fraudulent use or possession of an ID.

During the punishment phase, the parties notified the trial court of a conversation between Lewisville Police Officer Jeffrey Persinger, who the State planned to call as a witness, and a juror. Appellant’s counsel asked the trial court to declare a mistrial. The trial court conducted a hearing outside the presence of the jury and, after hearing testimony from five witnesses, denied appellant’s motion. The trial court also denied appellant’s requests to remove two jurors and to strike the officer from the State’s witness list. Thereafter, the State introduced evidence of appellant’s June 9, 2018 arrest for driving while intoxicated and the discovery of a loaded firearm in the vehicle through Sergeant Craig Barnhardt of the Lewisville Police Department, rather than Officer Persinger. Finally, Darren Hodge, an investigator with the Dallas County District Attorney’s office, testified about weapons depicted in various photographs admitted into evidence.

The jury assessed punishment at sixty-five years’ confinement.

DISCUSSION

I. Jury Instruction In his first issue, appellant claims that the trial court erred in denying his request for a jury instruction advising that he is not eligible for parole and that any

sentence assessed against him would be served in its entirety.1 The State asserts the trial court was not required to give the jury instruction because appellant was found guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child.

In reviewing a claim of jury charge error, we first determine whether error exists. Middleton v. State, 125 S.W.3d 450, 453 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003). If no error exists, the inquiry ends there. Kirsch v. State, 357 S.W.3d 645, 649 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). If error exists, we analyze that error for harm. Middleton, 125 S.W.3d at 453.

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

Cornelius Ashley Palmer v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2021).

Cornelius Ashley Palmer v. State (Cornelius Ashley Palmer v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Middleton v. State
125 S.W.3d 450 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Allen v. State
108 S.W.3d 281 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Wead v. State
129 S.W.3d 126 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Mozon v. State
991 S.W.2d 841 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Asberry v. State
813 S.W.2d 526 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Granados v. State
85 S.W.3d 217 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Hawkins v. State
135 S.W.3d 72 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Williams v. State
958 S.W.2d 186 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Quinn v. State
958 S.W.2d 395 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Ocon v. State
284 S.W.3d 880 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Chambliss v. State
647 S.W.2d 257 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Cameron v. State
241 S.W.3d 15 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Walters v. State
247 S.W.3d 204 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Gigliobianco v. State
210 S.W.3d 637 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Hitt v. State
53 S.W.3d 697 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2001)
Luquis v. State
72 S.W.3d 355 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Martinez v. State
327 S.W.3d 727 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Bigley v. State
865 S.W.2d 26 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Crabtree, Mark Alan
389 S.W.3d 820 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2012)
Kirsch, Scott Alan
357 S.W.3d 645 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2012)