Daniel Mavero v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 26, 2016
Docket05-14-01097-CR
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
Daniel Mavero v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion Filed July 26, 2016.

S In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-14-01097-CR

DANIEL MAVERO, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the County Criminal Court No. 10 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. MA13-71667L

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Lang, Brown, and Whitehill Opinion by Justice Brown Appellant Daniel Mavero appeals his jury conviction for violation of a protective order.

After the jury found appellant guilty, the trial court assessed punishment at 365 days’

confinement and a $150 fine. In six issues, appellant generally contends (1) the evidence is

legally insufficient to support his conviction, (2) the trial court’s charge contained egregious

errors, and (3) the trial court committed various errors related to the admission of extraneous

offense evidence. For the following reasons, we affirm appellant’s conviction.

Background

Appellant was charged by information with violation of a protective order. The

information alleged appellant intentionally or knowingly communicated with J.S., “a protected

individual and a member of the family and household, by contacting [her] via telephone . . . in violation of an order issued by the 330th District Court . . . under authority of Section 6.504 and

Chapter 85 of the Family Code and Article 17.292 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and said

communication was prohibited by the aforesaid order.”

At trial, J.S. testified she and appellant had a sexual relationship that resulted in the birth

of her son, J.K.S. J.S. later obtained a “Final Protective Order” in “child support court” because

appellant sent her e-mails threatening to kill her. J.S. identified that Order, which was admitted

into evidence without objection. The Order was issued by a Dallas County Family District

Court 1 and prohibited appellant from, amongst other things, communicating with J.S. in any

manner except through his lawyer or a third party that the family court had designated to arrange

visitation between appellant and J.K.S. Although the Order recited appellant failed to appear at

the hearing, J.S. testified that appellant was present during the hearing and knew about the Order.

On December 2, 2013, while the order was in effect, J.S. testified appellant called her at

the VA Hospital, where she works. The call came from an inside line. J.S. immediately

contacted the VA Police, showed them the protective order, and told them appellant had called

her from inside the hospital. J.S. also reported the call to Dallas Police.

J.S. testified she did not believe appellant had accidently called her because appellant

would call her to harass her when she did not respond to his e-mails. She further testified that

appellant had sent her e-mails begging her to call him or to reply, but she did not respond. J.S.

said she did not report the e-mails to police because appellant used fake e-mail addresses and it

would have been difficult for her to prove he had sent them. She nevertheless knew he sent them

because of their content.

1 See TEX. GOV’T CODE ANN. § 24.638 (West) (identifying 330th Judicial District Court as a family district court).

–2– Steven Girard is a patrol officer at the VA Hospital. Girard testified that he responded to

J.S.’s call on the day of the offense. J.S. told Girard she had a protective order and that appellant

had just called her from inside the hospital. Girard said the VA Police looked for appellant, but

were unable to find him.

David Weisskopf, a domestic violence detective with the Dallas Police, testified he was

assigned to investigate J.S.’s complaint. Weisskopf spoke to J.S., reviewed the protective order,

and determined he needed to file a case. Weissekopf acknowledged that he based his decision on

J.S.’s statement and that he did not obtain telephone records or video surveillance tapes from the

VA Hospital to verify her claims.

After hearing the evidence, the jury found appellant guilty of violating the protective

order. This appeal followed.

Legal Sufficiency of the Evidence

In his first issue, appellant asserts the evidence is legally insufficient to support his

conviction. In arguing this issue, appellant relies primarily on the State’s failure to prove all of

the manners in which the information alleged, and the jury found, he committed the offense.

In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the light most

favorable to the jury’s verdict to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found,

beyond a reasonable doubt, the essential elements of the offense as defined by a hypothetically

correct jury charge. Clayton v. State, 235 S.W.3d 772, 778 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007); Estrada v.

State, 334 S.W.3d 57, 61 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2009, no pet.). A hypothetically correct jury

charge is one that accurately sets out the law, is authorized by the charging instrument, does not

unnecessarily increase the State’s burden of proof or unnecessarily restrict the State’s theories of

liability, and adequately describes the particular offense for which the defendant was tried.

–3– Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997). When a charging instrument

alleges alternative manners of committing an offense in the conjunctive, it is proper for the trial

court to charge the jury in the disjunctive. Kitchens v. State, 823 S.W.2d 256, 258 (Tex. Crim.

App. 1991).

Under section 25.07(a)(2)(C) of the penal code, a person commits an offense if, in

violation of an order issued under section 6.504 of the family code, chapter 85 of the Family

Code, or article 17.292 of the code of criminal procedure, he knowingly or intentionally

communicates in any manner with a protected individual or a member of the family or

household, if the protective order prohibits such communications. See TEX. PEN. CODE ANN. §

25.07 25.07(a)(2)(C)(West Supp. 2015).

In this issue, appellant first contends the evidence is legally insufficient to show J.S. was

a member of appellant’s family and household. The information alleged, in the conjunctive, that

J.S. was “a protected individual and a member of the family and household.” The application

paragraph tracked the information’s conjunctive allegations. According to appellant, the State

was therefore required to prove J.S. was both a protected individual and a member of appellant’s

family and household.

However, a hypothetically correct charge would have allowed the jury to find this

element of the offense if it found J.S. was either a protected individual or a member of

appellant’s family or household. See Finster v. State, 152 S.W.3d 215, 218 (Tex. App.—Dallas

2004, no pet.); see also Cada v. State, 334 S.W.3d 766, 771 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011). Because

appellant does not dispute that J.S. was a protective individual, his complaint is without merit.

See Finster, 152 S.W.3d at 218.

–4– Appellant also asserts the evidence is legally insufficient to support his conviction

because the State did not present evidence that the protective order was issued under the

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