Criner v. State

816 S.W.2d 137, 1991 WL 210126
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 8, 1992
Docket09-90-096 CR
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 816 S.W.2d 137 (Criner 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
Criner v. State, 816 S.W.2d 137, 1991 WL 210126 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

OPINION

WALKER, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a conviction for the felony offense of Aggravated Sexual Assault. The trial began on April 16, 1990 and on May 1, 1990 the jury found appellant guilty. The jury then assessed punishment at ninety-nine (99) years confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and assessed a fine of $10,000.00. Appellant’s brief sets out two points of error. They are as follows:

The evidence is insufficient to sustain appellant’s conviction because it fails to establish the corpus delicti of the offense alleged in the indictment.
The evidence is insufficient to sustain appellant’s conviction because a rational jury could not have found beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant committed the offense.

We initially address appellant’s second point of error as our discussion and analysis of this point will be dispositive of the case.

The indictment charged that the appellant:

... intentionally and knowingly by threats, force and violence, cause the penetration of the female sexual organ of Deanna Ogg, a person not the spouse of the Defendant, by means of an object to-wit: the sexual organ of the defendant, without the consent of Deanna Ogg, and in the course of the same criminal episode, the Defendant caused serious bodily injury to Deanna Ogg by striking the said Deanna Ogg in the head with a blunt instrument the nature of which is unknown to the Grand Jury;
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The application paragraph in the trial court’s charge to the jury recited the identical language contained in the indictment. The jury found the appellant guilty of the offense “as charged in the indictment.”

We note at the outset that the State’s brief contends that appellant did not preserve the sufficiency complaints for appeal as the appellant’s objections and various motions at trial did not specifically comport with what appellant now raises as insufficient. See, Tex.R.App.P. 52(a). In examining the statement of facts, we find that the appellant did indeed preserve the sufficiency point for appellate purposes. We find that this specifically occurred during appellant’s oral motion for instructed verdict immediately prior to beginning the case for the defense. See, Gonzalez v. State, 588 S.W.2d 574, footnote 1 at 575 (Tex.Crim.App.1979); Scott v. State, 534 [139]*139S.W.2d 711 (Tex.Crim.App.1976). Having disposed of this procedural point, we give detailed review to the facts presented to the jury, continuously bearing in mind that the indictment against appellant is for the offense of Aggravated Sexual Assault and not Murder.

On September 27, 1986 at approximately 7:20 p.m., the nude body of the victim, Deanna Ogg, was discovered by two teenage boys. The body was found in a heavily wooded area of Montgomery County approximately two and one-half miles from the intersection of Old Houston Road and FM 1485, and approximately eight miles from the victim’s residence. Deanna Ogg was sixteen years old at the time of her death. She was discovered lying face down on a logging trail seventy-five to one hundred yards from Old Houston Road. Blood was all around her head and shoulders and several articles of her clothing were scattered all around her as was the contents of her purse. The purse itself was never located.

Testimony from the Harris County medical examiner revealed that Ms. Ogg died from a fractured skull due to blunt trauma to the head, and from multiple stab wounds to the neck. The neck wounds could have been made by a screwdriver among other things. There was no testimony as to what possible instrumentalities could have been responsible for the skull fracture. Further tests done on the body revealed that Ms. Ogg had sexual intercourse either recently before or after her death with a male individual as the presence of sperm was found on both vaginal and rectal smears. There was no evidence of trauma to the vaginal area and the medical examiner was unable to render an opinion as to whether the sexual intercourse was consensual or not. Toxicology tests revealed that Ms. Ogg had no drugs or alcohol present in her body at the time of her death.

The State elicited testimony from a former Montgomery County Sheriffs Deputy, Charles Self, who testified that he was involved with seizing a brown flat-bed truck with dual rear wheels belonging to appellant’s employer, Jesse Pitts, on September 30, 1986. The truck was seized with consent of the owner. Deputy Self further testified that upon looking inside of the truck, he observed a small screwdriver sticking in an air conditioning vent on the dash board. Deputy Self testified that he remembered the screwdriver to have been a flat-head type, not a Phillips-head. Deputy Self also testified that as far as he knew the screwdriver was never checked or subjected to any analysis. The defense later called Texas Ranger Stan Oldham to testify to the fact that his written report included information he had received from the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department stating that the screwdriver found in the truck was a Phillips-head type. Ranger Oldham also testified that he had no idea what was done, if anything, with the screwdriver. In examining the list of exhibits in the instant case we are amazed to find the screwdriver was not mentioned.

Maurita Howarth, a forensic serologist with the Texas Department of Public Safety, testified as to scientific analyses she conducted on blood, semen, and hair samples taken from both the victim’s body and the appellant. Ms. Howarth was supplied with known samples of hair (head and pubic) from both Ms. Ogg and appellant. Ms. Howarth was also supplied with unknown hair taken from combing of the victim’s pubic hair and other unknown hair taken off of the victim’s body as well as unknown hair taken from the brown truck that appellant was operating on the day of the incident. The results of the various comparisons showed that all of the hair found inside the truck did not match the victim’s; that from the pubic hair combing of the victim, none of the hair matched appellant’s and, in fact, our reading of Ms. Howarth’s testimony seems to indicate that she was unable to match one of the unknown pubic hairs to either the victim or appellant. Ms. Howarth further testified that the blood and semen tests were equally inconclusive as to identifying appellant as the assailant.

Testimony from Ms. Ogg’s family established that Ms. Ogg had planned to attend a dance that Saturday, September 27, 1986, with her grandmother and her uncle. Ms. Ogg’s grandmother and uncle lived in a [140]*140mobile home about thirty minutes away from Ms. Ogg’s home. When Ms. Ogg’s mother was unable to drive her to her grandmother’s home, Ms. Ogg left her home on foot.

Testimony from Virginia Mathes, a clerk at the “Stop N Go” convenience store located at the intersection of FM 1314 and Sorter’s Road in Porter, Texas, established that Ms. Ogg came into the store and purchased cigarettes sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on September 27. Ms. Mathes did not see how Ms. Ogg arrived but Ms. Mathes did testify that Ms. Ogg stated that she was with some friends and was going to a party in Conroe. From the state of the record before us, Ms. Mathes was the last person to see Ms. Ogg alive other than the person responsible for her death.

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Related

Criner v. State
868 S.W.2d 29 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Wawrykow v. State
866 S.W.2d 87 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Criner v. State
860 S.W.2d 84 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)

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Bluebook (online)
816 S.W.2d 137, 1991 WL 210126, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/criner-v-state-texapp-1992.