Farrain Joseph Comeaux A/K/A Farrain J. Comeaux v. State

413 S.W.3d 176, 2013 WL 5273379, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 11758
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 18, 2013
Docket09-12-00119-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 413 S.W.3d 176 (Farrain Joseph Comeaux A/K/A Farrain J. Comeaux 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
Farrain Joseph Comeaux A/K/A Farrain J. Comeaux v. State, 413 S.W.3d 176, 2013 WL 5273379, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 11758 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION

HOLLIS HORTON, Justice.

A jury found Farrain Joseph Comeaux 1 guilty of burglarizing a habitation. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 30.02(a)(1), (c)(2) (West 2011). Comeaux raises five issues *181 in his appeal. We conclude that none of Comeaux’s issues entitle him to receive a new trial or require his acquittal. We affirm the trial court’s judgment..

Jury Selection

In issue one, Comeaux complains that the trial court erred by denying the challenge for cause that he lodged against prospective juror 23 (PJ 23). During jury selection, PJ 23 informed Comeaux’s attorney that he had been burglarized. When Comeaux’s attorney asked PJ 23 if he could nevertheless be fair, PJ 23 stated: “I don’t think you’d want me on there. I have real strong feelings about it.” When Comeaux’s attorney concluded, he asked the prospective jurors to indicate whether they might not be appropriate jurors for a case involving an alleged burglary; PJ 23 raised his hand. At that point, the trial court excused the other prospective jurors, and allowed the attorneys to ask PJ 23 more questions.

Outside the presence of the other prospective jurors, the prosecutor asked whether PJ 23 could' set aside his experience and make a decision in the case based on the evidence. PJ 23 responded:

[PJ 23]: I don’t think — I’d glad[l]y serve on a jury. I don’t think this one—
[Prosecutor]: Do you already feel like he’s guilty?
[PJ 23]: No, I don’t feel that way. I just don’t feel I can be fair.
[Prosecutor]: You feel like you’d be leaning toward the State?
[PJ 23]: Probably lean more toward him.
[Prosecutor]: Oh, okay. I guess I was confused. Sorry. You don’t feel like you’d be able to make a decision in the case based on the evidence and facts of this case alone and put you[r] prior experience aside , and follow the law the Judge gives you?
[PJ 23]: Honestly, no.

After the prosecutor finished questioning PJ 23, Comeaux’s attorney asked:

[Defense]: Why do you feel you would be leaning toward Mr. Comeaux? Everything you’ve told me was that you’ve been — you had — you’ve been burglarized yourself—
[PJ 23]: I said wrong — I put it the wrong way.
[Defense]: What did you mean?
[PJ 23]: I’d be more against him. Sorry-
[Defense]: Okay. And that was because the conversation we’d had about the fact that you’d been burglarized in the past and—
[PJ 23]: Uh-huh.
[Defense]: — you just don’t think you could be fair and, to be on the safe side, you’d — you think you shouldn’t be on a — you shouldn’t judge a person who’s accused of a burglary case because— since you were burglarized, you’d be more likely or — to have that information you — irrespective of the evidence that you saw.
[PJ 23]: Right. When I got burglarized, it changed a bunch of things in me. My whole lifestyle changed. They — because the one guy that did it, I think there was more than one involved.
[Defense]: Okay. I just move to strike for cause, Judge.
THE COURT: [Prosecutor]? [Prosecutor]: I don’t know, Judge.
THE COURT: Here’s what it all boils down to: Are you going to let that experience cause you to violate the law and write down false answers?
[PJ 23]: I’m not trying to violate the law. It will be in the back of my mind.
*182 THE COURT: It doesn’t — if it’s in the back of your mind — it’s okay to be in the back of your mind out here; okay? Just because you’ve experienced life and I’ve experienced life, that doesn’t mean that we don’t get to serve as a juror.
[PJ 23]: Right.
THE COURT: The question is this: Can you sit and listen to the evidence— and you’re going to have to raise your right hand; you are going to have to swear or affirm to God that you’re going to answer the questions truthfully. If [the prosecutor] does her job and proves to you beyond a reasonable doubt that that man’s guilty, are you going to go back down there and write down that he’s not guilty?
[PJ 23]: No.
THE COURT: Okay. On the other side of that, if she doesn’t do her job and she doesn’t prove this case to you beyond a reasonable doubt and you know that she hasn’t done her job, are you going to go back there and find him guilty and help her just to hurt this man?
[PJ 28]: I could be fair.
THE COURT: That’s what we need to know. The bottom line to it is, is that you can either be fair or you cannot be fair. You will either follow the law and your oath as a juror or you won’t. And, you know, I’ve listened to it. I know you don’t mean to confuse, but I think she was a little confused. I think he’s been a little confused. The bottom line to it is all we want is 12 people that can do the right thing. But, it’s — some people say, Judge, I will not follow the law. I will go back there, and I will hurt this guy no matter what I have to do. She could not put on any evidence, but I’m so mad at people that burglarize houses I’m going to punish this man as a result of my anger.
[PJ 28]: No.
THE COURT: We don’t want those folks.
[PJ 23]: Right.
THE COURT: But the bottom line to it is, I know you’ve had bad experiences. Other jurors have had bad experiences. You don’t have to leave that outside. That’s stuff that you can take in there and you can consider all that. But at the end of the day, you can’t help her do her job, and you can’t punish this man if she doesn’t do her job. So, my question, again: Can you follow the law and render a fair and impartial verdict, or are you going to violate the law, are you going to violate your oath as a juror and go against this man just because you’ve been a victim in the past?
[PJ 23]: No. I can do what’s right.

Because the trial court refused to strike PJ 23 for cause, Comeaux’s attorney used one of his peremptory strikes to strike him. Then, Comeaux’s attorney requested an additional peremptory strike, informing the trial court that if given another strike, he would use it on PJ 27. The trial court refused to give Comeaux an additional strike. The record also shows that Co-meaux used his strikes on prospective jurors 2, 5, 10, 13, 20, 23, 24, 26, 31, and 34. Subsequently, PJ 27, the prospective juror that Comeaux identified as objectionable, was seated as the twelfth juror.

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

Related

Tina Louise Louis v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
Nicholas David Mosquera v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Stephen Melvin Bonds v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
Troy Anthony White v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Norvell Norman v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Mary Morrow Williams v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017
Samuel James Gray v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
State v. Pedro Antonio Gomez
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Harris, James Jr.
Texas Supreme Court, 2015
Comeaux, Farrain Joseph
445 S.W.3d 745 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
413 S.W.3d 176, 2013 WL 5273379, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 11758, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farrain-joseph-comeaux-aka-farrain-j-comeaux-v-state-texapp-2013.