Cosio v. State

318 S.W.3d 917, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 6856, 2010 WL 3306939
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 23, 2010
Docket13-08-00189-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 318 S.W.3d 917 (Cosio 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
Cosio v. State, 318 S.W.3d 917, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 6856, 2010 WL 3306939 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION ON REHEARING EN BANC

Opinion on Rehearing En Banc by

Justice HILL.1

Having reconsidered the issues presented in this appeal en banc, we withdraw our opinion of August 27, 2009, and replace it with this opinion.

Appellant, Jesus E. Cosio, appeals his convictions by a jury for the offenses of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by contact. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 21.11, 22.011(a)(2) (Vernon Supp. 2009). The jury assessed his punishment for two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child at fifteen and twenty five years’ confinement, respectively, in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division. Additionally, the jury assessed his punishment for two counts of indecency with a child by contact at ten years’ confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, and a fine of $5,000, in each of the counts. The imposition of the sentence of imprisonment or confinement for indecency with a child by contact was suspended and Co-sio placed on community supervision for ten years, with the fine to be paid as one of the conditions for community supervision. All of the sentences are to run concurrently.

In seven issues, Cosio contends that: (1) the jury charge contains egregious error because it allowed for convictions that were not unanimous (issue one); (2) his trial counsel was ineffective in not ensuring that extraneous offense instructions were given to the jury, by not preparing for punishment, in not calling a witness to testify, and in not objecting to the reading back of the complainant’s testimony (issues two, four, five, and six); (3) the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support his convictions for indecency with a child by contact (issue three); and (4) the trial court erred in not granting a new trial due to a witness conversing with two jurors (issue seven). We reverse the judgment with respect to one of the convictions for indecency with a child by contact and remand to the trial court for the entry of a judgment of acquittal. We reverse the judgment with respect to the remaining convictions and remand to the trial court for further proceedings.

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Cosio contends in issue three that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support his convictions for indecency with a child by contact. In order to determine if the evidence is legally suffi[920]*920cient, the appellate court reviews all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determines whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979). To determine if the evidence is factually sufficient, the appellate court reviews all of the evidence in a neutral light. Watson v. State, 204 S.W.3d 404, 414 (Tex.Crim.App.2006); Johnson v. State, 23 S.W.3d 1, 10-11 (Tex.Crim.App.2000); Cain v. State, 958 S.W.2d 404, 407-08 (Tex.Crim.App.1997); Clewis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126, 129 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). Then, the reviewing court determines whether the evidence supporting the verdict is so weak that the verdict is clearly wrong and manifestly unjust or whether the verdict is against the great weight and preponderance of the conflicting evidence. Watson, 204 S.W.3d at 414-15; Johnson, 23 S.W.3d at 10-11.

Each of the two counts of indecency with a child by contact, as submitted to the jury, alleged that Cosio touched part of the complainant’s genitals. Susan Sherman, a pediatric nurse practitioner with the Children’s Advocacy Center in Fort Myers, Florida, testified that the complainant told her in an interview that, while she was in the shower, Cosio touched her on her chest and in her private area. Sherman said that she did not expect to find anything abnormal in her medical examination of the complainant because two or three years had passed. She acknowledged that nothing abnormal “stuck out” at her.

The complainant recalled that when she was about seven or eight, Cosio came in while she was taking a shower and touched her on the breast, her private part, and “mostly everywhere.” She acknowledged that she thought he was giving her a shower, although he had not ever given her a shower before, and she knew how to shower by herself.

The complainant testified that about a week later, Cosio took her into her mother’s room, where he touched her breasts, “mostly my whole body, like mostly everything.” She stated that Cosio had her put his penis in her mouth, then put his penis in her vagina when she was eight years old.

The complainant testified that on another occasion, when she was nine or ten, she and Cosio were in her mother’s room and he showed her pornographic movies, and attempted to simulate the positions in the movie. On this occasion, Cosio put his penis inside her vagina and touched her breasts.

We hold that the evidence is legally and factually sufficient to support Cosio’s conviction of one count of indecency with a child by contact, involving the first incident when the complainant was in the shower. Cosio contends that the evidence is insufficient because the complainant made reference to her “private part,” without being more specific, and because any sexual conduct that occurs in the course of an act of sexual penetration is subsumed in the completed act. We hold that the complainant’s use of the term “private part” was sufficient to convey to the jury that the touching occurred to part of her genitals. See Williams v. State, 911 S.W.2d 788, 790 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1995, no pet.) (op. on reh’g). Cosio suggests that because the complainant was fourteen years of age at the time she testified, and because her language usage indicates that she would have been capable of a more precise description, that the evidence is insufficient. The Williams court held that the evidence was sufficient because the language used, “private part,” sufficiently communicated to the trier of fact the part of the body involved, not because the complainant was [921]*921too young to use more sophisticated language. Id. There was no act of sexual penetration involved in the shower incident.

The only other evidence of Cosio touching the complainant’s genital area is in connection with penetration by Cosio’s penis. Penile contact with mouth, genitals or anus in the course of penile penetration is subsumed in the greater offense. Patterson v. State, 152 S.W.3d 88, 92 (Tex.Crim.App.2004). The State urges that the evidence is sufficient to show that Cosio touched part of the complainant’s genitals on the occasion in her mother’s bedroom when, she said, he touched her breasts, “mostly my whole body, like mostly everything.” We hold that this language is too imprecise for the trier of fact to reasonably infer that Cosio touched her genital area on that occasion, apart from the contact incident to penetration that the complainant also described.

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Bluebook (online)
318 S.W.3d 917, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 6856, 2010 WL 3306939, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cosio-v-state-texapp-2010.