Dontavious Dishawn Haney v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided May 17, 2022·No. 06-21-00094-CR·Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana

No. 06-21-00094-CR

DONTAVIOUS DISHAWN HANEY, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 202nd District Court Bowie County, Texas

Trial Court No. 20F0133-202

Before Morriss, C.J., Stevens and van Cleef, JJ.

Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Morriss

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Denise Watson died from injuries suffered after her boyfriend, Dontavious Dishawn Haney, hit her, causing her facial fractures, a badly injured eye, a broken nose, facial and intracranial bleeding, and difficulty breathing. As a result, a Bowie County jury convicted Haney of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury to a family member, a first-degree felony. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.02(b)(1) (Supp.). Haney was sentenced to thirty-eight years’ imprisonment and was ordered to pay a $10,000.00 fine. On appeal, Haney argues that the evidence was legally insufficient to show (a) that his actions were voluntary, (b) that he acted with the required intent, or (c) that his hands were deadly weapons.

We find that (1) legally sufficient evidence supported the jury’s verdict of guilt but that (2) the judgment should reflect the jury’s affirmative deadly-weapon finding. Therefore, we modify the judgment and affirm it, as modified. (1) Legally Sufficient Evidence Supported the Jury’s Verdict of Guilt Haney admits that he struck Watson with his hand or fist. Yet, claiming that the strike was the result of a “reflex reaction” after Watson knocked Haney’s phone from his hand, Haney argues that the evidence was legally insufficient to support the jury’s findings that (a) his actions were voluntary, (b) he had the required mens rea at the time of the offense, and (c) his hands or fists were deadly weapons.

“In evaluating legal sufficiency, we review all the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s judgment to determine whether any rational jury could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” Williamson v. State, 589 S.W.3d 292, 297

(Tex. App.—Texarkana 2019, pet. ref’d) (citing Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 912 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (plurality op.); Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 (1979); Hartsfield v. State, 305 S.W.3d 859, 863 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2010, pet. ref’d)). “We examine legal sufficiency under the direction of the Brooks opinion, while giving deference to the responsibility of the jury ‘to fairly resolve conflicts in testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.’” Id. (quoting Hooper v. State, 214 S.W.3d 9, 13 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007) (citing Jackson, 443 U.S. at 318–19; Clayton v. State, 235 S.W.3d 772, 778 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007))).

“Legal sufficiency of the evidence is measured by the elements of the offense as defined by a hypothetically correct jury charge.” Id. (quoting Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997)). “The ‘hypothetically correct’ jury charge is ‘one that accurately sets out the law, is authorized by the indictment, 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.’” Id. (quoting Malik, 953 S.W.2d at 240).

Here, the State alleged that Haney

intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly cause[d] serious bodily injury to Denise Watson, by hitting Denise Watson with his hand and/or fist and/or hitting Denise Watson with his hand and/or fist and causing her to strike the wall, and the defendant did then and there use or exhibit a deadly weapon, to-wit: his hand and/or fist, during the commission of said assault, and the said Denise Watson, was then and there a member of the defendant’s family or household or a person with whom the defendant has or has had a dating relationship, as described by Section 71.005, Section 71.0021 & Section 71.003 of the Texas Family Code.

At trial, it was undisputed that nineteen-year-old Haney and twenty-one-year-old Watson were in a dating relationship and were cohabitating in Watson’s mother’s home with Jacquanise

Johnson.1 Those who knew Haney and Watson described their relationship as abusive. Chynna Ware, Watson’s friend and co-worker, testified that Haney and Watson argued often, that their relationship had turned violent, and that she saw Haney push Watson. Shenika Shavers, Watson’s neighbor, also characterized Haney and Watson’s relationship as abusive and testified that she witnessed Haney strike Watson on a “couple of” occasions. Ware and Shavers both testified that they saw bruises on Watson. Even Haney, who testified in his defense, admitted that his relationship with Watson was “toxic.”

On the night before the offense, Ware testified that Watson video chatted with her from her car. According to Ware, Watson’s “face was real puffy and swollen, like she had been crying, you know, like something hysterical, like something was wrong.” When Watson told Ware that she was scared, Ware “told her to call the police, put [Haney] out.” Watson walked back into her house while she was still on video with Ware, but Ware testified that the “phone went dead” suddenly.

On the day of the incident, Shavers said that she heard Watson crying and telling Johnson that she was hurt. Shavers went to investigate, but Haney would not open the door.2 Shavers testified that she returned to her house, later “heard a bunch of commotion” and Haney’s “fussing” coming from Watson’s home, and returned to Watson’s house to break up the fight. Again, no one answered the door.

1 Johnson was the mother of Watson’s deceased brother’s son.

2 Watson’s mother was not home.

Johnson testified that she woke up to Haney and Watson arguing. Johnson went to the living room and saw the right side of Watson’s head hit a wall after Haney threw her against it. Johnson retrieved her phone from her room and was unable to witness any further altercation but noticed on returning to the living room that Watson’s nose was broken, and her nose and eyes were bleeding. Johnson became extremely upset and questioned Haney, who responded only by saying that Watson had smacked his phone out of his hand. Johnson testified that she helped Watson to the couch because it looked as if she wanted to rest, eventually noticed that Watson had stopped breathing, and told Haney to call the police, which he did.

Benjamin Thomes, a patrol officer with the Texarkana, Texas, Police Department (TTPD), testified that he responded to the call and arrived at Watson’s home to find her lying on her back, unresponsive and nude, with only Haney and Johnson there. Thomes said that Haney was on the phone with dispatchers, who were coaching him to perform CPR, and that Haney was “somewhat” trying to perform CPR on Watson. Thomes took over the task of attempting to revive Watson and saw evidence of injuries on her body.

Thomes’s body-camera footage, which was played for the jury, showed that Haney, while making a closed fist, admitted to Thomes that he had hit Watson in the face with his left hand, causing her to bleed from her nose. He then told Thomes that it was a “reflex” because Watson had “slapped [his] phone out of [his] hand.” Lauren Lynch, another TTPD officer, testified that Haney, who told Lynch he had “jabbed” Watson with his left hand, had an injury to his right hand. When Lynch questioned him about this injury, Haney said he had punched a hole in a

bedroom wall.3 Spencer Price, a crime-scene analyst with TTPD, testified that the hole in the bedroom wall was “near [his] knees.” Cody Harris, a detective with TTPD, opined that, since the hole in the wall was low, Haney had not caused that hole by punching the wall.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Dontavious Dishawn Haney v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2022).

Dontavious Dishawn Haney v. the State of Texas (Dontavious Dishawn Haney v. the State of Texas) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Hooper v. State
214 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Clayton v. State
235 S.W.3d 772 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Landrian v. State
268 S.W.3d 532 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Guevara v. State
152 S.W.3d 45 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Malik v. State
953 S.W.2d 234 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Clark v. State
886 S.W.2d 844 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Moore v. State
969 S.W.2d 4 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Lane v. State
151 S.W.3d 188 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Tucker v. State
274 S.W.3d 688 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Patrick v. State
906 S.W.2d 481 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1995)
Brooks v. State
900 S.W.2d 468 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1995)
French v. State
830 S.W.2d 607 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1992)
Rhoten v. State
299 S.W.3d 349 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Rogers v. State
105 S.W.3d 630 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Hartsfield v. State
305 S.W.3d 859 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Brooks v. State
323 S.W.3d 893 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Padilla v. State
326 S.W.3d 195 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Adanandus v. State
866 S.W.2d 210 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Turner v. State
664 S.W.2d 86 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1983)