Deleon II, Orlando v. State

105 S.W.3d 47, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 1971, 2003 WL 756019
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 6, 2003
Docket08-02-00146-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 105 S.W.3d 47 (Deleon II, Orlando 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
Deleon II, Orlando v. State, 105 S.W.3d 47, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 1971, 2003 WL 756019 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice.

Orlando Deleon II appeals his conviction for possession of a fictitious driver’s license. Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and entered a plea of not guilty before the trial court. The court found Appellant guilty and assessed his punishment at confinement for ninety days and a fine of $400, but suspended the sentence and placed Appellant on community supervision for one year. We affirm.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

Joseph Heitjan, a Sachse police officer, stopped Appellant’s vehicle when he failed to signal a turn. Appellant identified himself as Orlando Deleon and produced a driver’s license bearing that name. Utilizing the driver’s license produced by Appellant, Heitjan ran a computer check for warrants and learned that Appellant had warrants for speeding tickets out of Garland, Texas. After confirming the warrants through the dispatcher, Heitjan arrested Appellant and transported him to the jail. During Heitjan’s inventory of Appellant’s property, Heitjan found a second driver’s license in Appellant’s wallet. It is a valid Texas driver’s license with Appellant’s picture on it but it bears the name Andrew Charles Johnson. It also shows an incorrect date of birth for Appellant, indicating that he was over twenty-one years of age when in fact he was only nineteen. When Heitjan found the second license, Appellant became, in his words, depressed. His shoulders sagged, his head dropped down to his chest, and he began to shake his head from side to side.

LEGAL SUFFICIENCY

In his sole issue for review, Appellant challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence to prove that he possessed a fictitious license. He argues that since the license was duly issued by the Department of Public Safety, it is not fictitious.

Standard of Review

In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence to support a criminal conviction, we must review all the evidence, both State and defense, in the fight most favorable to the verdict to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-19, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d 560, 573 (1979); Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154, 159 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). This familiar standard gives full play to the responsibility of the trier of fact fairly to resolve conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic to ultimate facts. Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. at 2789, 61 L.Ed.2d at 573. We do not resolve any conflict of fact or assign credibility to the witnesses, as it was the function of the trier of fact to do so. See Adelman v. State, 828 S.W.2d 418, 421 (Tex.Crim.App.1992); Matson v. State, 819 S.W.2d 839, 843 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). Instead, our duty is only to determine if both the explicit and implicit findings of the trier of fact are rational by viewing all of the evidence admitted at trial in a fight most favorable to the verdict. Adelman, 828 S.W.2d at 422. In so doing, any inconsistencies in the evidence are resolved in favor of the verdict. Matson, 819 S.W.2d at 843. Further, the standard of review is *50 the same for both direct and circumstantial evidence cases. Geesa, 820 S.W.2d at 158.

Elements of the Offense

Appellant was charged with possession of a fictitious license pursuant to Section 521.451 of the Texas Transportation Code. That section, entitled “General Violation,” provides that, except as provided by Section 521.452, a person may not:

(1) display, cause or permit to be displayed, or have in the person’s possession a driver’s license or certificate that the person knows is fictitious or has been altered ...

Tex.TraNsp.Code Ann. § 521.451(a)(l)(Ver-non Supp.2003). 1 The information alleged that Appellant possessed a driver’s license he knew was fictitious. 2

Definition of “Fictitious”

Noting that Section 521.451 does not define “fictitious,” Appellant directs us to Section 521.453(a), entitled “Fictitious License or Certificate”:

Except as provided by Subsection (f), a person under the age of 21 years commits an offense if the person possesses, with the intent to represent that the person is 21 years of age or older, a document that is deceptively similar to a driver’s license or a personal identification certificate unless the document displays the statement ‘NOT A GOVERNMENT DOCUMENT’ diagonally printed clearly and indelibly on both the front and back of the document in solid red capital letters at least one-fourth inch in height.

Tex.TRAnsp.Code Ann. § 521.453(a)(Vernon 1999). Appellant reasons that a fictitious license is limited to one which is deceptively similar to a driver’s license. Since the licenses he possessed were both valid, he argues that the evidence is insufficient to show that he possessed a fictitious license. In essence, he contends that a license issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety which has not subsequently been altered can never be a fictitious license. We disagree with this overly restrictive reading of the statute.

The Code Construction Act provides that when a statute does not define a term it must be given its common meaning, except in the case of words and phrases that have acquired a technical or particular meaning. Tex.Gov’t Code Ann. § 311.011 (Vernon 1998); see Neumuller v. State, 953 S.W.2d 502, 511 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1997, pet. ref'd). The Transportation Code does not define “fictitious.” Section 521.453(a) simply describes one offense involving possession of a fictitious license. There is no indication that the Legislature intended to limit the term “fictitious” to only fake or phony licenses and thereby exclude a valid license containing false information. Consequently, the term “fictitious” as used in Section 521.451 must be given its plain meaning.

In construing the plain meaning of the language of a statute, courts may resort to the use of dictionary definitions. *51 See Bingham v. State, 913 S.W.2d 208, 209-10 (Tex.Crim.App.1995). Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines fictitious as “feigned; imaginary; not genuine.” Webster’s New Collegiatiate Dictionary 308 (1961). Webster’s notes that “fictitious” implies fabrication. Id.

We find some guidance in Olurebi v. State, 870 S.W.2d 58 (Tex.Crim.App.1994).

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Bluebook (online)
105 S.W.3d 47, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 1971, 2003 WL 756019, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/deleon-ii-orlando-v-state-texapp-2003.