Dorsey v. State

24 S.W.3d 921, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 6143, 2000 WL 1273454
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 6, 2000
Docket09-98-501 CR
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 24 S.W.3d 921 (Dorsey 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
Dorsey v. State, 24 S.W.3d 921, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 6143, 2000 WL 1273454 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

OPINION

EARL L. STOVER, Justice.

A jury convicted appellant Charles Ray Dorsey of murder1 of his wife, Pamela Dorsey, and sentenced him to life imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice — Institutional Division. Dor[924]*924sey appeals his conviction with twenty-three points of error.2

In point of error twenty-one, Dorsey contends the evidence was legally and factually insufficient to support his conviction. Specifically, he argues that because there was no eyewitness to the murder, no evidence of blood spatter on his person or clothes, and no “hair, fiber, or fingerprint evidence that in any way indicated he was the perpetrator,” the evidence was insufficient to show he murdered Pamela Dorsey.

Set forth below is the standard by which an appellate court reviews legal and factual sufficiency points; it is the same for both direct and circumstantial evidence. See Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154, 158 (Tex.Crim.App.1991).

In evaluating legal sufficiency, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
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[A]ll evidence admitted at trial — including improperly admitted evidence — is considered in a legal sufficiency review. Dewberry v. State, 4 S.W.3d 735, 740-41 (Tex.Crim.App.1999), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 120 S.Ct. 2008, 146 L.Ed.2d 958 (2000).
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In determining whether the evidence is factually sufficient to support the conviction, we must view all of the evidence, without the prism of “in the light most favorable to the prosecution,” and set aside the verdict only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Clewis v. State, 922 S.W.2d 126, 129 (Tex.Crim.App.1996).

Wilson v. State, 7 S.W.3d 136, 141 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). In our sufficiency review, we are governed by the fact that the jury is the exclusive judge of the facts proved, the credibility of the witnesses, and the weight to be given to the testimony. Tex.Code CRim. PROC. Ann. Art. 38.04 (Vernon 1979). The jury may believe or disbelieve all or any pari of a witness’s testimony, even though the witness’s testimony has been contradicted. Sharp v. State, 707 S.W.2d 611, 614 (Tex.Crim.App.1986). Reconciliation of conflicts in the evidence is within the exclusive providence of the jury. Jones v. State, 944 S.W.2d 642, 647 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). Where, as here, identity is an issue in the case, the identity of the perpetrator may be proved by direct or circumstantial evidence. See Earls v. State, 707 S.W.2d 82, 85 (Tex.Crim.App.1986).

BACKGROUND

Early in the morning on May 14, 1996, Charles Dorsey called 911 and reported that his wife Pamela Dorsey had been shot. He told the operator that “it’s my little boy. He got in her purse and got her gun.” Delane Potter, a patrol security officer for the subdivision in which the Dorseys lived, responded to the emergency call. In the bedroom of the house, the security officer found Pamela Dorsey “lying [face down] in the bed, covered up to about to the neck.” Potter indicated that Dorsey was very upset, and two and one half year old Connor appeared confused and disoriented. Potter did not notice any blood on either Dorsey, the child, or the carpet. Neither did he see much blood on the bed sheets. He did observe, however, “what seemed like about two drops of blood that came out of her nose and onto her wrist.” Potter testified that in the six and one half years he had worked at the [925]*925subdivision, he had never been to the Dorsey home on a disturbance call.

James Reed, the EMT on the scene, described the emergency procedures performed on Pamela that night. He also testified he observed “some blood” coming from her nose and a small amount of blood on the pillow and on both sides of her head. Reed was not aware of any blood in other parts of the room or on the sheet that covered her. According to Reed, none of the procedures performed on Pamela Dorsey by emergency personnel that night would have caused bruising or injury to her head, skull, or facial area.

Also called to the home in the early morning hours of May 14,1996, was Peggy Frankhauser, head of the automated fingerprint system for the Montgomery County Sheriffs Department. She testified a revolver and a holster were found on the floor by the night stand and the bed. At the base of the triple dresser in the bedroom was Pamela Dorsey’s purse with the contents dumped out beside it.

Dr. Vladimir Parangao, assistant medical examiner of Harris County, testified regarding the autopsy report. He indicated the cause of Pamela’s death was a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

An examination of the body revealed a small abrasion around the right eye, along with some discoloration around the eye that made it appear “like a black eye.” The abrasion to the right eye area could not have been caused by the gunshot. The hemorrhage in the muscle around the left temple was the result of a blunt trauma and not of a gunshot wound. Dr. Paran-gao testified “[sjomething hit this part of the head, whether it was hit by something blunt, or the head hit something blunt.” The examination also revealed a “light blue-purple contusion on the left side of the neck that extended] up to the left shoulder.” In Dr. Parangao’s opinion, there was some type of trauma to the neck that could have been consistent with choking. In addition, there were petechiae, thin hair-sized hemorrhages in the whites of Pamela’s eyes, that were caused by asphyxia from choking, strangulation, ligature, or smothering. Parangao testified the injuries associated with choking were distinguishable from those caused by the tracheotomy performed on Pamela Dorsey during the emergency medical treatment on May 14. Also present were “abrasions of the upper chest” that were consistent with the administration of CPR by the emergency personnel.

On cross-examination, Dr. Parangao acknowledged he did not know what procedures, other than CPR, the medical personnel performed on Pamela Dorsey in an attempt to save her life. He acknowledged the possibility that emergency personnel could have handled her body in such a way as to cause some of the injuries noted in the autopsy. On further examination by the State, however, Dr. Parangao testified the presence of the petechiae is not consistent with a body being mishandled, because petechiae only occur before the person’s death — while alive or in the process of dying.

Ivan Wilson, who works for the Department of Public Safety Crime Lab in Austin, performed a gunshot residue analysis on the clothing of Dorsey and Connor and on the hands of Dorsey, Pamela, and Con-nor. He detected no residue on Dorsey’s or Connor’s clothing.

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Bluebook (online)
24 S.W.3d 921, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 6143, 2000 WL 1273454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dorsey-v-state-texapp-2000.