Edward James Dwyer Jr. v. State

532 S.W.3d 535
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 26, 2017·No. 04-15-00805-CR·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by:

Luz Elena D. Chapa, Justice

A jury convicted Edward James Dwyer, Jr. for continuous sexual abuse of a child and aggravated sexual assault of a child. On appeal, Dwyer argues there is legally insufficient evidence to support his conviction for continuous sexual abuse of a child; he was unable to intelligently exercise his peremptory strikes because he and his trial counsel were unable to view the venire panel while making peremptory strikes; and the trial court erroneously instructed the jury to disregard the dates alleged in the indictment, resulting in two convictions for the same offense in violation of the Double’ Jeopardy Clause.' We affirm- the trial court’s judgment. ‘

Procedural Background

A grand jury indicted Dwyer for the continuous sexual abuse of C.D., who is Dwyer’s daughter. The indictment alleged Dwyer intentionally or knowingly touched C.D.’s genitals with his hand at least twice between January 15, 2011, and June 6, 2012. The grand jury also indicted Dwyer for aggravated sexual assault of C.D. The indictment alleged Dwyer intentionally and knowingly caused his finger to penetrate C.D.’s sexual organ on or about June 12, 2012. The indictment further alleged C.D. *538 was under the age of fourteen at the time of the alleged offenses. Dwyer pled not guilty, and the case proceeded to a jury trial.

The State presented the expert witness testimony of Carol Twiss, who testified about typical patterns of children’s disclosure of sexual abuse; the testimony of Darin Trahan, an investigator with the Kerrville Police Department who interviewed Dwyer about C.D.’s outcry; and the testimony of C.D. The trial court also admitted a video recording of Dwyer’s interview with Trahan. Dwyer testified in his defense. After closing arguments, the jury found Dwyer guilty of both offenses as charged in the indictment, and the trial court assessed Dwyer’s punishment. The trial court imposed Dwyer’s sentences, and Dwyer filed a timely notice of appeal.

Legal Sufficiency

Dwyer argues there is legally insufficient evidence that he “touched C.D. with the intent to arouse or gratify his sexual desire on more than one occasion over a period greater than thirty days.” In reviewing the legal sufficiency of the evidence, we ask whether “any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979); accord Laster v. State, 275 S.W.3d 512, 517 (Tex. Crim. App. 2009). We review the evidence “in the light most favorable to the verdict.” Merritt v. State, 368 S.W.3d 516, 525 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012). “Our role on appeal is restricted to guarding against the rare occurrence when a factfinder does not act rationally,” and we must “defer to the responsibility of the trier of fact to fairly resolve conflicts in testimony, to weigh the evidence, and to draw reasonable inferences from basic facts to ultimate facts.” Isassi v. State, 330 S.W.3d 633, 638 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) (quotation marks and citations omitted).

The essential elements of continuous sexual assault of a child, as alleged in the indictment, are set out in section 21.02(b) of the Texas Penal Code. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 21.02(b) (West Supp. 2016). Section 21.02(b) provides:

A person commits an offense if: (1) during a period that is 30 or more days in duration, the person commits two or more acts of sexual abuse, regardless of whether the acts of sexual abuse are committed against one or more victims; and (2) at the time of the commission of each of the acts of sexual abuse, the actor is 17 years of age or older and the victim is a child younger than 14 years of age.

Id. (formatting modified). An “act of sexual abuse” includes touching any part of a child’s genitals “with intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person.” Id. §§ 21.01(2), 21.02(c)(2), 21.11(a)(1) (West 2011 & Supp. 2016). Dwyer challenges only the legal sufficiency of the evidence that he touched C.D.’s genitals “with the intent to arouse or gratify his sexual desire on more than one occasion over a period greater than thirty days.”

C.D. testified June 6, 2012, was a significant day in her life because her mother died suddenly that day. She testified Dwyer sexually abused her before her mother passed away. C,D. explained, “[Dwyer] would touch [her] inappropriately, obviously, and it would start off seeming like it was innocent and then escalate.” She clarified, “[Dwyer] would touch [her] vagina in different ways each time” with “[h]is hands.”

C.D. testified Dwyer would touch her “typically when [she] was asleep” and “[she] would wake up from him touching [her].” C.D. testified she believed Dwyer’s touching was “[deliberate.” She stated the *539 touching incidents occurred more than twice and “[sjometimes” multiple times a week “[s]ince January of 2011.” She also stated that once while touching her, “[Dwyer] said, ‘Do you want what your body’s telling me you want?”’ C.D. described Dwyer’s touching of her vagina as “[r]ubbing” for “[l]onger” than a couple of seconds and “[s]ometimes” more than a minute. C.D. testified she did not know whether Dwyer became aroused when he touched her.

Dwyer testified he had no memory of some of the incidents about which C.D. testified, but “a typical situation” was when he and C.D. were watching television and C.D. would “plop her legs up into [his] lap ... and [he]’d be sitting there rubbing her legs.” Dwyer stated, “There were a couple of times that [he] got close to her vagina, but it was inadvertent,” and he would stop “sliding [his] hand up and down her leg” when “[he] would feel [his] fingers brush against fabric,” 1

Dwyer testified he believed C.D. was generally truthful and was “not aware of any time that she has lied,” but C.D. was “[p]robably” unhappy that he would not allow her to leave home and live elsewhere. He also testified C.D. had been untruthful with the jury, but she was telling the truth when she said he gave her multiple massages while they were on the couch.

Dwyer stated he was aroused “[o]nee or twice” when he was giving C.D. massages, but denied asking her, “Do you want what your body’s telling me you want?” He also stated that, at times, he could smell her when she was “through with her period” and it would arouse him on rare occasions, but not fully. Dwyer testified that “within a day or so” after his interview with Investigator Trahan, he left Texas but was extradited back to the state,

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Edward James Dwyer Jr. v. State, 532 S.W.3d 535 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

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