Damon Evans v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 23, 2023
Docket05-20-00590-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Damon Evans v. the State of Texas (Damon Evans v. the State of Texas) 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
Damon Evans v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

AFFIRMED as MODIFIED and Opinion Filed February 23, 2023

S In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-20-00590-CR No. 05-20-00591-CR

DAMON EVANS, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 2 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause Nos. F20-51047-I and F20-51046-I

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Molberg, Reichek, and Garcia Opinion by Justice Molberg

Following appellant Damon Evans’ plea of guilty in an open plea hearing, the

trial court found Evans guilty of two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly

weapon, found true an enhancement paragraph in each indictment that alleged Evans

had a prior felony conviction of assault on a public servant, and sentenced him in

each case to eight years’ confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s

Institutional Division, with the sentences to be served concurrently. Evans timely

appealed after the trial court entered judgments and certified his right to appeal. He also timely filed a motion for new trial and presented it to the trial court. His motion

for new trial was overruled by operation of law without a hearing.

Evans raises thirteen issues on appeal, the last three of which seek various

modifications to the two judgments. The State disputes Evans’ first ten issues,

agrees with the last three, and raises a cross-point seeking another modification to

the two judgments. We modify the judgments as reflected below, and as reformed,

affirm the judgments.

I. ANALYSIS

A. Guilty Plea and Finding of Guilt

In his first six issues, Evans challenges in various respects the judgments

convicting him of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as charged in the

indictments. Specifically, Evans argues the trial court erred because (1) his guilty

plea was not supported by an adequate judicial confession or factual basis in the

record (first and second issues); (2) his guilty plea was not knowingly and

voluntarily entered (third and fourth issues); and (3) rather than finding him guilty

as charged in the indictments, the trial court should have found him not guilty or

guilty of the lesser-included crime of assault (fifth and sixth issues).1

1 For each grouping of issues, Evans’ arguments are identical, except for the trial court cause numbers to which they are directed. His first, third, and fifth issues concern trial court cause number F20-51046-I; his second, fourth, and sixth issues concern trial court cause number F20-51047-I. –2– 1. Judicial Confession

In his first and second issues, Evans argues his guilty plea in each case was

not supported by a judicial confession and an adequate factual basis for each crime

is not in the record. The State disagrees and argues Evans’ judicial confession in

each case was alone sufficient to support his convictions and that his convictions

were further supported by Evans’ testimony at the plea hearing. We agree with the

State.

Article 1.15 of the code of criminal procedure provides that when a defendant

pleads guilty, he cannot be convicted upon his plea alone without sufficient evidence

to support the plea. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 1.15; McGill v. State, 200 S.W.3d

325, 330 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2006, no pet.). A judicial confession, standing alone,

constitutes sufficient evidence to support a guilty plea. See Dinnery v. State, 592

S.W.2d 343, 353 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1979) (op. on reh’g) (describing this

as “well settled”) (citations omitted); see also Menefee v. State, 287 S.W.3d 9, 13

(Tex. Crim. App. 2009). Here, the plea paperwork in each case includes the

following:

....

–3– Evans argues his judicial confession was deficient in two ways. First, he

claims it was deficient because it included language stating “or as a lesser included

offense of the offense alleged in the charging instrument” and was not narrowed to

include only aggravated assault. As support, he cites Hughley v. State, No. 06-15-

00174-CR, 2016 WL 3668026 (Tex. App.—Texarkana July 9, 2016, pet. ref’d)

(mem. op., not designated for publication), which involved a judicial confession

containing somewhat similar language. Evans argues that because Hughley

mentions other evidence of guilt in the record beyond the defendant’s judicial

confession, “Hughley suggests that it is only when there is additional evidence

beyond the boilerplate judicial confession will the evidence be sufficient to support

the plea.” But we do not read Hughley so narrowly, and, in any event, Hughley does

not find the judicial confession in that case deficient, and the case involved a

–4– different offense, procedural context, and issues on appeal.2 Contrary to Evans’

implicit suggestion otherwise, Hughley does not alter the well-settled rule that a

judicial confession, standing alone, constitutes sufficient evidence to support a guilty

plea, see Dinnery, 592 S.W.2d at 353.

Second, Evans argues his judicial confession was deficient because the plea

paperwork in which it is contained was signed by him and his trial counsel on

different dates.3 As support, Evans cites Mayberry v. State, No. 05-92-02830-CR,

1993 WL 480212, at *2 (Tex. App.—Dallas Nov. 19, 1993, no pet.) (mem. op., not

designated for publication), noting that in that case, we described the plea paperwork

as being “witnessed by” his counsel and arguing that here, because he and his trial

counsel signed the plea paperwork on different dates, his counsel did not “witness”

it. We are unpersuaded by Evans’ reliance on Mayberry and reject his argument that

the difference in dates made his judicial confession deficient on this record. Evans,

his trial counsel, and the State signed the plea paperwork containing Evans’ judicial

2 Hughley involved a judgment adjudicating guilt on a charge of assault in a family violence situation causing bodily injury, for which the trial court originally placed Hughley on deferred adjudication community supervision. 2016 WL 3668026, at *1. On appeal, the court decided a jurisdictional question and an evidentiary sufficiency question, the latter of which was prompted by Hughley’s argument that the judgment was void because there was no evidence to support his conviction. 2016 WL 3668026, at *3. Our sister court disagreed, see id., at *3–5, and affirmed the judgment, stating, “we find that Hughley’s responses to the trial court’s questions, taken with the judicial confession and written plea of guilt, all of which were filed in the clerk’s record, were sufficient to support the trial court’s finding that Hughley was guilty . . . and to enter its judgment of conviction accordingly.” Id. at *5. The judicial confession in Hughley stated the defendant “JUDICIALLY CONFESSES and admits to committing the offense . . . exactly as charged in the charging instrument or as a lesser included offense charged in . . . the charging instrument.” 3 His counsel’s signature on the “Defense Attorney’s Approval” section of the plea paperwork is dated May 15, 2020. –5– confession and stipulation before the plea proceedings began, and during the plea

proceedings, Evans confirmed to the trial court he had an opportunity to speak

privately with his attorney, had gone over the allegations and understood what he

was charged with in each case, and the trial court admitted various exhibits into

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Related

Boykin v. Alabama
395 U.S. 238 (Supreme Court, 1969)
McGill v. State
200 S.W.3d 325 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Menefee v. State
287 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Holden v. State
201 S.W.3d 761 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Asberry v. State
813 S.W.2d 526 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Dinnery v. State
592 S.W.2d 343 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Reyes v. State
849 S.W.2d 812 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Smith v. State
286 S.W.3d 333 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Hobbs v. State
298 S.W.3d 193 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2009)
McIntire v. State
698 S.W.2d 652 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1985)
Brooks v. State
323 S.W.3d 893 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Bigley v. State
865 S.W.2d 26 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Kiser v. State
788 S.W.2d 909 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Davison, Anthony Ray
405 S.W.3d 682 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Winfrey, Megan AKA Megan Winfrey Hammond
393 S.W.3d 763 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Johnson, Manley Dewayne
423 S.W.3d 385 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2014)
Colone v. State
573 S.W.3d 249 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2019)

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