Davis v. State

967 S.W.2d 476, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2050, 1998 WL 149465
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 1, 1998
Docket09-96-212-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 967 S.W.2d 476 (Davis 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
Davis v. State, 967 S.W.2d 476, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2050, 1998 WL 149465 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

WALKER, Chief Justice.

A jury convicted Ronald Ken Davis of murder, assessing as punishment a twenty year term of imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division, and a $2,500 fine. Davis presents four points of error in his appeal. .

Point of error one contends: “Reversible error occurred when the trial court failed to grant appellant’s objection to the charge.” Intentional murder is a “result of conduct” offense. Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 19.02(b)(1) (Vernon 1994) 1 ; see Lugo-Lugo v. State, 650 S.W.2d 72, 81 (Tex.Crim.App.1983). The accused must be found to have intended to engage in the act that caused the death and also must have specifically intended that death result from that conduct. Cook v. State, 884 S.W.2d 485, 490 (Tex.Crim.App.1994). In an intentional murder case, it is error for a charge to define “intentionally” or “knowingly” as relates to the nature of the conduct as well as to the result of the conduct. Id.

Although the trial court erred in not limiting the culpable mental states to the result of appellant’s conduct, finding error in a jury charge does not result in an automatic reversal of a conviction. Abdnor v. State, 871 S.W.2d 726, 731 (Tex.Crim.App.1994).

Our determination of whether sufficient harm resulted from a charging error to warrant reversal depends upon whether a timely objection was made at trial. Abdnor, 871 S.W.2d at 732. Where the appellant objected at trial, we search only for “some harm.” Id. “[T]he presence of any harm, regardless of degree, which results from preserved charging error, is sufficient to require a reversal of the conviction.” Arline v. State, 721 S.W.2d 348, 351 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). In the absence of a timely objection at trial, *479 when error is asserted for the first time on appeal, charge error will result in reversal only if the appellant suffered “egregious harm” such that he “has not had a fair and impartial trial.” Almanza v. State, 686 S.W.2d 167, 171 (Tex.Crim.App.1985)(opinion on rehearing). “[T]he actual degree of harm must be assayed in light of the entire jury charge, the state of the evidence, including the contested issues and weight of probative evidence, the argument of counsel and any other relevant information revealed by the record of the trial as a whole.” Id. We may consider the degree, if any, to which the culpable mental states, broadly defined in the abstract portion of the charge were limited by the application portions of the jury charge. Patrick v. State, 906 S.W.2d 481, 492 (Tex.Crim.App.1996), cert. denied, 517 U.S. 1106, 116 S.Ct. 1323, 134 L.Ed.2d 476 (1996).

Defense counsel objected to the inclusion of the words “or knowingly” in the application paragraph of the charge, and to the inclusion of a definition of “knowingly.” On appeal, Davis contends the charge erroneously included “Nature of conduct” language in the definitions of “intentionally” and “knowingly.” These are two entirely different objections; therefore, we cannot say the error raised on appeal was subject to an objection at trial.

The application paragraph authorized the jury to convict Davis if he did intentionally or knowingly cause the death of [C.W.] by shooting him with a firearm. The terms “intentionally” and “knowingly” directly modify the phrase “cause the death.” The charge did not authorize the jury to convict appellant on his conduct alone. Jones v. State, 951 S.W.2d 522, 525 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 1997, pet. ref'd). The prosecutor did not suggest through his argument that the jury could find Davis guilty upon the nature of his conduct. As we decided in Jones, at 526:

The charge given to the jury, when read as a whole, stated the applicable law in a manner that was not reasonably likely to mislead the jury into convicting on an unlawful basis. There is no reasonable likelihood that the jury convicted appellant just because they thought he engaged in the conduct that ultimately caused [the victim’s] demise. Although the abstract, definitional portion of the jury charge contained unnecessary “engage in conduct” language, given the explicit limiting instructions contained in the application paragraph, it is very unlikely that such language misled the jury. The application paragraph instructed the jurors quite clearly that they could not find appellant guilty of murder unless they first found beyond a reasonable doubt that he “intentionally or knowingly caused the death of the deceased.”

We hold Davis did not suffer egregious harm due to the erroneous definitions in the charge and was not denied a fair and impartial trial. We overrule point of error one.

The second point of error urges: “Reversible error occurred when the trial court failed to grant appellant’s objection to the Prosecution shifting the burden to appellant during the State’s closing argument.” The record reflects the following argument:

Officer Chadney’s testimony was that Hattie Mae Davis told Officer Chadney that her son told her that he did it. Well, why didn’t [defense counsel] say or explain that away to you folks a minute ago? Because you can’t explain it. Where is Hattie Mae Davis? Is that Hattie Mae Davis right there on the back row? Where is she? And if Hattie Mae Davis had not told Officer Chadney that, “My son shot [C.W.], he told me that he did,” she could have gotten up there and said, “I never said that.” But that lawyer didn’t put that woman up there.
[By Defense Counsel]: Your Honor, I am going to object. An attempt to shift the burden to The Defense to put evidence on.
THE COURT: Overruled.

Permissible jury argument falls within four general areas: (1) summation of the evidence; (2) reasonable deductions from the evidence; (3) answer to the argument of opposing counsel; and (4) plea for law enforcement. Alejandro v. State, 493 S.W.2d 230, 231-32 (Tex.Crim.App.1973). To consti *480 tute reversible error, jury arguments must be extreme or manifestly improper, or inject new and harmful facts into evidence. Gaddis v. State, 753 S.W.2d 396, 398 (Tex.Crim.App.1988). A reference to the appellant’s failure to produce evidence, other than his own testimony, is not an improper remark. Banks v. State, 643 S.W.2d 129, 135 (Tex.Crim.App.1982). See also, Wolfe v. State,

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Bluebook (online)
967 S.W.2d 476, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2050, 1998 WL 149465, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/davis-v-state-texapp-1998.