Fagan v. State

89 S.W.3d 245, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 7316, 2002 WL 31295405
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 14, 2002
Docket06-01-00146-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 89 S.W.3d 245 (Fagan 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
Fagan v. State, 89 S.W.3d 245, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 7316, 2002 WL 31295405 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by Justice CORNELIUS (Retired).

A jury convicted Thaddeus Chad Fagan' of attempted aggravated sexual assault of a child and assessed his punishment at fifty years’ imprisonment and a $10,000.00 fine. Fagan contends the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the verdict because of the language used in the indictment. He also contends that the trial court erred by giving the jury a charge allowing it to convict him on less than a unanimous verdict and that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to hold a hearing on a motion for new trial alleging newly discovered evidence. We overrule all of these contentions and affirm the judgment.

Fagan first contends the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict because the State failed to prove that the grand jury used due diligence in seeking to determine the object Fagan used to commit the assault. The indictment and the jury charge both alleged that Fagan committed aggravated sexual assault by contacting the victim’s buttocks either with his sexual organ or with an object unknown to the grand jury. The victim testified that she was sleeping with a group of children on the floor of the residence and that she was awakened when something stuck against her buttocks that felt like a boy’s private part. She testified that, when she awoke, she discovered that her jeans had been pulled halfway down to her knees, and she said as she awoke she turned and saw Fagan pulling his pants up and moving away.

If the trial court’s charge authorizes the jury to convict the defendant on alternative theories, a verdict of guilt will be upheld if the evidence is sufficient to convict the defendant on any one of the theories. Holberg v. State, 38 S.W.3d 137, 139 (Tex.Crim.App.2000); Rabbani v. State, 847 S.W.2d 555, 558 (Tex.Crim.App. 1992); Guevara v. State, No. 04-00-00340-CR, 2001 WL 1643914, at *4, — S.W.3d -,-(Tex.App.-San Antonio Dec. 26, 2001, no pet. h.).

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has held that alternate pleading of the differing methods of committing an offense may be charged in one indictment. Kitchens v. State, 823 S.W.2d 256, 258 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). And although the indictment may allege the differing methods of committing the offense in the conjunctive, it is proper for the court to charge the jury in the disjunctive. Id.

Fagan argues that the evidence is insufficient because the State failed to prove that the grand jury used due diligence in seeking to determine the object used in the assault. In his argument, he relies on the line of cases led by Rosales v. State, 4 S.W.3d 228, 231 (Tex.Crim.App.1999); Hicks v. State, 860 S.W.2d 419, 424 (Tex.Crim.App.1993); and Matson v. State, 819 S.W.2d 839, 847 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). These cases articulate and apply the rule *248 that where the indictment alleges that the weapon used was unknown to the grand jury, but the evidence at trial establishes what weapon was used, the state must prove that the grand jury used due diligence in attempting to ascertain what weapon was used. If the evidence at trial fails to establish what instrument or weapon was used, a prima facie showing is made that the instrument or weapon was unknown to the grand jury. Rosales v. State, 4 S.W.3d at 231; Hicks v. State, 860 S.W.2d at 424; Matson v. State, 819 S.W.2d at 847. The purpose for this rule is to ensure that a defendant will have adequate notice of the charge against him and to guard against weakening the adequacy of notice that may be caused by a variance between the allegation and the proof.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has discussed the relationship between the indictment and the proof in several opinions since its decision in Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). In Malik, the court held that the sufficiency of the evidence is measured by the elements of the offense as defined by a hypothetically correct jury charge for the case rather than by the charge actually given to the jury. Id. at 240. In Rosales, after discussing the rule applied in Hicks as set out above, the court specifically held, without further explanation, that in light of its ruling in Malik, “the rule in cases like Hicks is no longer viable.... ” Rosales v. State, 4 S.W.3d at 231; see Rose v. State, 76 S.W.3d 573, 574 (TexApp.-Corpus Christi 2002, no pet. h.); Richards v. State, 54 S.W.3d 348, 350 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2001, pet. ref d).

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has since held that a hypothetically correct jury charge need not incorporate allegations that give rise to immaterial variances. Gollihar v. State, 46 S.W.3d 243, 256 (Tex.Crim.App.2001). In determining whether the evidence was legally sufficient to support the conviction in Gollihar, the court applied Malik and looked to determine whether Gollihar could properly be convicted, based not on the instructions actually given to the jury, but instead on the hypothetically correct charge that could have been given to the jury as authorized by the indictment. 1 Id. at 254; see Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234.

The ruling in Gollihar thus merges notice concepts into the question of whether a variance between the indictment and the proof is material, holding finally that only a material variance providing inadequate notice will render the evidence legally insufficient. 2 The question is whether the Hicks line of cases remains viable in light of the language in Gollihar and Rosales. We were recently confronted with this question in Wheeler v. State, 35 S.W.3d 126, 132 n. 6 (TexApp.-Texarkana 2000, pet. refd). In that case, we did not find it necessary to reach the issue. 3 We do so now.

*249 The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has expressly disavowed the “due diligence” rule set out in Hicks.

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89 S.W.3d 245, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 7316, 2002 WL 31295405, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fagan-v-state-texapp-2002.