Douglas Lee McBath v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 29, 2024
Docket02-23-00056-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Douglas Lee McBath v. the State of Texas (Douglas Lee McBath v. the State of Texas) 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
Douglas Lee McBath v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________

No. 02-23-00056-CR No. 02-23-00057-CR ___________________________

DOUGLAS LEE MCBATH, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 235th District Court Cooke County, Texas Trial Court Nos. CR22-00224, CR23-00043

Before Womack, Wallach, and Walker, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Womack MEMORANDUM OPINION

I. INTRODUCTION

Douglas Lee McBath appeals his convictions for burglary of a habitation with

assault or attempted assault (Case No. CR22-00224) and attempted aggravated assault

(Case No. CR23-00043). See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 22.02(a)(1), 30.02(a)(3). In two

issues, McBath contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to show that he

entered the habitation in question without effective consent and that convictions for

both assault-based burglary and attempted aggravated assault violated his double-

jeopardy right against multiple punishments for the same conduct.1 We affirm the trial

court’s judgments.

II. BACKGROUND

At the time of the offenses, McBath’s seventeen-year-old daughter Shalonda

Johnson lived with her mother Mary Johnson and Shalonda’s two half-siblings. Keon

Holland is the father of one of Shalonda’s half-siblings. Both McBath and Holland

1 In his second issue, McBath asserts that his “[p]rosecution for both burglary with an assault (or an attempted assault) and for the assault itself violated [his] double jeopardy rights against multiple punishments for the same conduct.” But “[a] multiple- punishments violation occurs after sentencing . . . .” Ex parte Aubin, 537 S.W.3d 39, 43–44 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017). Despite his second issue’s mischaracterization, McBath argues that a defendant cannot be convicted of both a greater-included and lesser- included offense when the evidence shows that the defendant committed only one act. See Ochoa v. State, 982 S.W.2d 904, 908 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998). Thus, we will address McBath’s double-jeopardy issue as arising from his convictions for the two offenses, not the prosecution thereof.

2 were permitted in Mary’s house, but Holland was Mary’s “live-in boyfriend” at the time.

McBath visited Shalonda, but there is evidence that he was not permitted in Mary’s

house when Holland was there.

On May 18, 2022, Mary, Shalonda, and Holland were at Mary’s house when

McBath arrived to see Shalonda. McBath entered the house and then went back outside

with Shalonda, where she told him that Holland had threatened to beat up Mary and

her. Shalonda and McBath reentered the house and found Holland in a bedroom.

McBath confronted Holland with Shalonda’s allegations, and the men fought.

After the fight, McBath left, Holland went to purportedly get a gun from his

brother, and Mary called 911. Police responded, and upon his return to Mary’s house,

Holland told the responding officers that McBath had entered Mary’s house, attacked

him, and put him in a choke hold. McBath was arrested the next day and charged with

burglary of a habitation with assault or attempted assault and attempted aggravated

assault.

A jury convicted McBath on both counts and assessed a ninety-nine-year

sentence on each count. The trial court sentenced him accordingly, and this appeal

followed.

III. DISCUSSION

In his first issue, McBath contends that the evidence supporting the burglary

conviction is legally insufficient to show that he entered Mary’s house without consent.

He asserts that he had “express permission” to enter the house. In his second issue,

3 McBath contends that the convictions for assault-based burglary and attempted

aggravated assault violated his double-jeopardy right against multiple punishments for

the same crime. McBath reasons that since assault is a lesser-included offense of both

aggravated assault and burglary, the State could not convict him for both offenses. We

will address each issue in order.

A. Issue 1: Sufficiency of the Evidence

1. Standard of Review

In our evidentiary-sufficiency review, we view all the evidence in the light most

favorable to the verdict to determine whether any rational factfinder could have found

the crime’s essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S.

307, 319, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789 (1979); Queeman v. State, 520 S.W.3d 616, 622 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2017). This standard gives full play to the factfinder’s responsibility to resolve

conflicts in the testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences

from basic facts to ultimate facts. See Jackson, 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S. Ct. at 2789; Harrell

v. State, 620 S.W.3d 910, 914 (Tex. Crim. App. 2021).

The factfinder alone judges the evidence’s weight and credibility. See Tex. Code

Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.04; Martin v. State, 635 S.W.3d 672, 679 (Tex. Crim. App. 2021).

We may not re-evaluate the evidence’s weight and credibility and substitute our

judgment for the factfinder’s. Queeman, 520 S.W.3d at 622. Instead, we determine

whether the necessary inferences are reasonable based on the evidence’s cumulative

force when viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict. Braughton v. State,

4 569 S.W.3d 592, 608 (Tex. Crim. App. 2018); see Villa v. State, 514 S.W.3d 227, 232 (Tex.

Crim. App. 2017) (“The court conducting a sufficiency review must not engage in a

‘divide and conquer’ strategy but must consider the cumulative force of all the

evidence.”). We must presume that the factfinder resolved any conflicting inferences

in favor of the verdict, and we must defer to that resolution. Braughton, 569 S.W.3d at

608.

To determine whether the State has met its burden to prove a defendant’s guilt

beyond a reasonable doubt, we compare the crime’s elements as defined by a

hypothetically correct jury charge to the evidence adduced at trial. Hammack v. State,

622 S.W.3d 910, 914 (Tex. Crim. App. 2021); see also Febus v. State, 542 S.W.3d 568, 572

(Tex. Crim. App. 2018) (“The essential elements of an offense are determined by state

law.”). Such a 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 restrict the

State’s theories of liability, and adequately describes the particular offense for which the

defendant was tried. Hammack, 622 S.W.3d at 914. The law as authorized by the

indictment means the statutory elements of the offense as modified by the charging

instrument’s allegations. Curlee v. State, 620 S.W.3d 767, 778 (Tex. Crim. App. 2021); see

Rabb v. State, 434 S.W.3d 613, 616 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (“When the State pleads a

specific element of a penal offense that has statutory alternatives for that element, the

sufficiency of the evidence will be measured by the element that was actually pleaded,

and not any alternative statutory elements.”).

5 2. Analysis

McBath was indicted for committing burglary by “intentionally or knowingly

enter[ing] a habitation or a portion thereof, without the effective consent of Keon

Holland, the owner or a person with the greater right to possession and use thereof,

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