Hanner v. State

572 S.W.2d 702, 1978 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1338
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 1, 1978
Docket53786
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 572 S.W.2d 702 (Hanner v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hanner v. State, 572 S.W.2d 702, 1978 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1338 (Tex. 1978).

Opinions

OPINION

ODOM, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for rape by force.1 The jury assessed the appellant’s punishment at fifteen years’ confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections.

The appellant contends that the trial judge erred by: (1) failing to delete portions from the appellant’s written confession before it was admitted into evidence; [704]*704(2) allowing the appellant’s amended motion for new trial to be overruled by operation of law without holding a hearing on it; (3) allowing, in four instances, the introduction of hearsay evidence; (4) overruling the appellant’s motion for mistrial; (5) failing to instruct the jury that they must find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the appellant’s penis penetrated the prosecutrix’s vagina; (6) failing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of attempted rape; (7) failing to rule on the appellant’s objection to the prosecutor’s final argument; (8) failing to allow the appellant to develop and introduce evidence of jury misconduct and other errors during the appellant’s hearing on his amended motion for new trial. We affirm.

The trial testimony reveals that in the early hours of May 20,1975, the prosecutrix drove from Shreveport, Louisiana, to Surf-side Beach in Freeport. The prosecutrix spent the day on the beach. At approximately 6:00 p. m., the appellant, the appellant’s cousin, Charles Gilbreath, and another person identified only as James were driving along Surfside Beach when they saw the prosecutrix. At that time, the prosecutrix was putting together a charcoal grill. As Gilbreath drove the Plymouth by the prosecutrix, the appellant asked her if she needed any help. She responded that she did not need any assistance and Gil-breath continued to drive down the beach.

Gilbreath turned the car around and drove toward the prosecutrix. The appellant again asked the prosecutrix if she needed any help and she again responded in the negative. The next thing the prosecu-trix realized, the appellant was standing beside her trying to make “small talk.” She merely continued to put the grill together.

The prosecutrix finally asked the appellant to leave.2 The appellant asked why, and she told him that she had come to the beach to be alone. The appellant then started to walk down the beach.

Just as the appellant started to walk down the beach, the prosecutrix realized that a nearby Winnebago camper was in the process of leaving. The prosecutrix picked up her grill and put it into the hatchback of her car. She then got into her car to drive away, but the appellant came up to the driver’s side of the prosecutrix’s car, grabbed the door, opened it and forced himself inside, thereby forcing the prosecu-trix over to the middle of the car. The prosecutrix asked him what he was doing and told him to leave her car.

When the appellant failed to respond to her demand to leave her car, she attempted to escape out the passenger side of the car. The appellant, however, put his arm around her neck and restrained her. Then the appellant told her “to shut up, to quit hollering,” and that he “had a gun” and “he would use it” if necessary.

A physical struggle ensued during which the appellant punched the prosecutrix in her left eye. The force and threats employed by the appellant were sufficient to subdue the prosecutrix to the point where the appellant was able to start the car and drive it down the beach. As the appellant drove the prosecutrix’s car down the beach, he had his arm around her neck and was feeling her breasts while telling her that he was going to “f_k” and “e_t” her.

The appellant stopped the car, but the appellant’s companions drove up. The appellant promptly started the prosecutrix’s car and drove further along the beach. When the appellant subsequently stopped her car, the appellant told the prosecutrix to take off her clothes. The prosecutrix, who was crying, begged the appellant to let her alone. The appellant yelled at the pros-ecutrix and hit her again. He then ripped off the top button of the prosecutrix’s blouse. The prosecutrix then removed her clothes and laid down on the front seat.

The appellant unzipped his pants and attempted to insert his penis into the prosecu-trix’s vagina. The prosecutrix testified that the appellant could not achieve an “erection” and that, despite his efforts, his penis only partially penetrated her vagina. [705]*705The appellant subsequently forced the pros-ecutrix into the back portion or hatchback area of her car. He then continued to rape her for approximately ten to fifteen minutes.

Thereafter, the appellant got out of the prosecutrix’s car and told her that he would kill her if she reported the occurrence. The prosecutrix got into the driver’s seat and attempted to drive away, but the car got stuck in the sand. The appellant recruited Gilbreath and James to assist him in getting the prosecutrix’s car out of the sand. The Plymouth was subsequently backed up to the prosecutrix’s car so that chains could be attached to it.

Meanwhile, a car driven by Edward Springs, which had driven by the prosecu-trix’s car twice during the rape, passed by a third time. The prosecutrix waved at him and attracted his attention. Springs drove up and watched the appellant and his companions free the prosecutrix’s car from the sand. At that time, the prosecutrix drove off and Springs followed her. When the prosecutrix stopped her car a short way down the beach, Springs got out of his car and asked her if she had been attacked. The prosecutrix responded in the affirmative and Springs took the prosecutrix to a nearby convenience store to call the police.

The police were summoned, and the pros-ecutrix was examined by a physician. There was no evidence of sperm in her vagina and no evidence of any trauma in her pelvic area.

The defensive testimony focused on the appellant’s alcoholic condition during the time of the rape. The testimony tends to show that it would have been impossible for the appellant to have been able to have sexual intercourse with the prosecutrix. The defense also presented evidence that any sexual contact between the appellant and the prosecutrix was consensual in nature.

The appellant’s first contention is that the trial judge erred by failing to delete a portion of the appellant’s confession. The portion of which the appellant complains is the underlined portion of the following:

“I met some old woman on the street and took her to Rosie’s. We had a beer there then I was going to take the woman back to the Cozy Lounge. I told Ray to come back to the Cozy and pick me up.
“Just as I got outside the Cozy, I was picked up by Freeport Police Department.”

The events which the appellant wanted deleted occurred after the rape. The appellant contends that the events reveal an extraneous instance of immorality. The appellant relies upon Chatterfield v. State, 436 S.W.2d 146 (Tex.Cr.App.1969).

In Chatterfield, the defendant was charged with assault to rob. Over the defendant’s objection, the prosecutor elicited, in his case-in-chief, a telephone conversation the defendant had with a married woman within one hour of the commission of the offense. This Court there held that

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Bluebook (online)
572 S.W.2d 702, 1978 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 1338, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanner-v-state-texcrimapp-1978.