Ford v. State

828 S.W.2d 525, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 858, 1992 WL 63141
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 2, 1992
DocketA14-91-00691-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 828 S.W.2d 525 (Ford 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
Ford v. State, 828 S.W.2d 525, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 858, 1992 WL 63141 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

ELLIS, Justice.

Appellant, David Joseph Ford, appeals his judgment of conviction for the offense of aggravated robbery. Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 29.03 (Vernon 1989). The jury rejected appellant’s not guilty plea and found him guilty as alleged in the indictment. The court after finding the enhancement paragraph of the indictment to be true, assessed punishment at twenty-five (25) years confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. We affirm.

Appellant brings three points of error on his appeal. He asserts that:

1. His conviction should be reversed because the state did not prove that the knife was a deadly weapon.
2. The trial court erred in sustaining a legitimate argument by appellant’s counsel, which error was compounded by the trial judge’s own comments.
3. The trial court violated article 38.05 V.A.C.C.P. in improperly commenting on the weight of the evidence while erroneously sustaining the state’s objection to appellant’s legitimate jury argument.

The relevant facts are as follows. Loan Tran testified that on May 30, 1989, she worked at a store called Easy Shop. At about 8:30 a.m., appellant came into the store to make a purchase, but he left because he had no money. He returned several minutes later and jumped over the counter with a knife in his hand. The blade of the knife' was pointed, and it was two or two and one-half inches long. Appellant grabbed Tran by the neck and stuck the knife against her back. Tran feared that appellant would hurt her with the knife. She was so frightened that she lost control of her bladder. The only customer in the store ran out.

Appellant demanded that Tran open the cash register. She told him that she would give him the money if he released her. Instead, appellant tightened his grip on her neck and pushed the knife harder against her back in an effort to further frighten her.

Appellant let go of Tran’s neck and kept the knife against her back while he tried to open the cash register, but he pushed the wrong button, and it would not open. Tran kept telling him that she would give him money if he released her, but he did not let her go until another customer entered the store. Appellant then ran out from behind the counter. As he reached the door, Tran’s husband was entering, but appellant pushed him out of the way and fled. State’s Exhibit 2, a picture of Tran’s back, shows the scratches Tran received from appellant’s knife.

Van Bich Truong, Tran’s husband, testified that on the day of the robbery, he was asleep in their apartment next door to the store when he heard his wife screaming. Truong grabbed his gun and ran to the store. Appellant ran from behind the counter and tried to convince Truong that he had not grabbed Tran. Appellant claimed that Tran had refused to give him change. Truong pointed his gun at appellant, but appellant pushed him out of the way and ran out of the store.

T.L. Keen, a detective in the robbery division of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, testified that the kind of knife described by Tran could be a deadly weapon if placed in the kidney area. The scratches on Ms. Tran’s back, as shown in State’s Exhibit No. 2, and testified to by her were located on her back in the kidney area.

*527 Appellant testified that he went into the Easy Shop to get change for a phone call. After making his phone call, he returned to the store to buy a package of cigarettes. He paid for the cigarettes with a twenty dollar bill, but Tran said that she did not have the correct change. He asked her to return his money, but she told him to wait because her husband had gone to the bank for change. A few minutes later, her husband entered the store, took the gun out of his holster and asked appellant what was happening. When appellant explained the situation to him, he pointed the gun at appellant and told his wife to call the police. Appellant then left the store without his twenty dollars because he was frustrated.

In his first point of error, appellant asserts that the evidence is insufficient to show that his knife was a deadly weapon. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, the appellate court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict. Villalon v. State, 791 S.W.2d 130, 132 (Tex.Crim.App.1990); Houston v. State, 663 S.W.2d 455, 456 (Tex.Crim.App.1984). “[T]he test ... requires us ... to determine whether ‘after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Butler v. State, 769 S.W.2d 234, 239 (Tex.Crim.App.1989), overruled on other grounds, Geesa v. State, 820 S.W.2d 154 (Tex.Crim.App.1991) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). “[T]he reviewing court is not to position itself as a thirteenth juror in assessing the evidence. Rather, it is to position itself as a final, due process safeguard ensuring only the rationality of the factfinder.” Moreno v. State, 755 S.W.2d 866, 867 (Tex.Crim.App.1988).

A deadly weapon is “anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.” Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 1.07(a)(11)(B). “[Virtually any instrument, backed by the requisite malice and intent, is capable of causing death, creating a substantial risk of death, causing serious permanent disfigurement or impairment of bodily function.” Chavez v. State, 740 S.W.2d 21 (Tex.App.—El Paso 1987, no pet.).

A knife may be a deadly weapon, depending on its size, shape, sharpness, the manner of its use or intended use and its capacity to cause death or serious bodily injury. Blain v. State, 647 S.W.2d 293, 294 (Tex.Crim.App.1983). It is not necessary for the knife to have caused any injury in order for it to be a deadly weapon. Booker v. State, 712 S.W.2d 853, 856 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1986, pet. ref’d).

Tisdale v. State, 686 S.W.2d 110 (Tex.Crim.App.1984) (op. on reh’g), controls the instant case. In Tisdale, the defendant entered a store and carried several items to the cash register as if he was going to make a purchase. When the register opened, he put his hand on the cash tray.

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Bluebook (online)
828 S.W.2d 525, 1992 Tex. App. LEXIS 858, 1992 WL 63141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ford-v-state-texapp-1992.