Harris v. State

475 S.W.3d 395, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 8723, 2015 WL 4984560
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 20, 2015
DocketNO. 14-14-00152-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by69 cases

This text of 475 S.W.3d 395 (Harris 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
Harris v. State, 475 S.W.3d 395, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 8723, 2015 WL 4984560 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

[398]*398OPINION

Ken Wise, Justice

Appellant David Dean Harris appeals his conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child. The jury found appellant guilty and assessed his punishment at fifty years in prison. In three issues, appellant asserts that (1) Article 38.37, Section 2 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure is unconstitutional; (2) the trial court erred by permitting three witnesses to testify on extraneous offense evidence; and (3) the trial court erred by denying his request for a hearing on his motion for new trial. We ' affirm.

Factual and PROCEDURAL Background

In January 2014, appellant was tried for the first degree felony offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Prior to trial, the State provided appellant with notice of its intention to use evidence of prior extraneous offenses pursuant to Article 38.37 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure,. Article 38.37, Section 2 provides that notwithstanding Texas Rules of Evidence 404 and 405, evidence that, the, defendant has committed a separate sexual offense may be .admitted in the trial of certain alleged sexual offenses for any bearing the evidence has on relevant matters, including the character of the defendant and acts performed in conformity with the character of the defendant. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 38.37, § 2(b). When Article 38.37, Section 2 is invoked, the trial court must conduct a hearing outside the presence of the .jury to “determine that the evidence likely to be admitted at trial will be adequate to support a finding by the jury that the defendant committed the separate offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. § 2-a. :

Before the guilt-innocence phase of trial began, the trial court conducted a hearing in which five witnesses testified as to extraneous incidents that occurred between them and appellant. After each witness testified, the trial court ruled on whether the witness could testify at the guilt-innocence phase of trial. The trial court found that the testimony of three witnesses was adequate to support a finding by the jury that appellant committed the offenses beyond a reasonable doubt and allowed them to testify. The trial court excluded testimony from the other two witnesses. The three witnesses testified about the extraneous offenses during the guilt-innocence phase.

The jury found appellant guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child. The jury assessed punishment at fifty years in prison. Appellant moved for a new trial; wliich the trial court denied.

Issues and Analysis

In three issues, appellant contends that (1) Article 38.37, Section 2 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure is unconstitutional because it violates the due process guarantees of the United States Constitution, the Texas Constitution, and the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure; (2) the trial court abused its discretion by allowing three witnesses to testify as to extraneous offense evidence; and (3) the trial court abused its discretion by denying appellant’s request for a hearing on his motion for new trial.

I. Constitutionality of Article 38.37, Section 2

In his first issue, appellant asserts that Article 38.37, Section 2 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure is unconstitutional because it violates the due process guarantees of the United States Constitution, [399]*399Texas Constitution,1 and Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Appellant argues that the statute renders the trial so fundamentally unfair that it denies an accused citizen a fair and impartial trial.

We review the constitutionality of a statute in light of the presumption of the statute’s validity. Ex parte Granviel, 561 S.W.2d 503, 511 (Tex.Crim.App.1978); Morris v. State, 833 S.W.2d 624, 627 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1992, pet. ref'd), We must presume that the Legislature did not, act unreasonably or arbitrarily in enacting the statute. Ex parte Granviel, 561 S.W.2d at 511. Appellant has the burden to establish that the statute is unconstitutional. Id.

The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without, due process of law. U.S. Const, amend, V. The Due Process Clause requires that the State prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, every element of the crime -charged. Byrd v. State, 336 S.W.3d 242, 246 (Tex.Crim.App.2011) (eit-mg Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 316, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). Generally, an accused must be tried only for the offense with, .which he is charged and may not be tried for a collateral crime or being a criminal generally. Stafford v. State, 813 S.W.2d 503, 506 (Tex.Crim.App.1991). The essential guarantee of the Due Process Clause is that the government may not imprison or otherwise physicaiíy restrain a person except in accordance with fair procedures. Long v. State, 742 S.W.2d 302, 320 (Tex.Crim.App.1987), overruled on other grounds, Briggs v. State, 789 S.W.2d 918, 924 (Tex.Crim.App.1990).

Section 2(b) of Article 38.37 applies to criminal prosecutions for offenses under certain Penal Code sections2 and provides that:-

Notwithstanding’ Rules 404 and 405, Texas Rules of Evidence, and subject to Section 2-a, evidence that the defendant has committed a separate offense described by Subsection (a)(1) or (2) may be admitted in the trial of an alleged [400]*400offense described by Subsection (a)(1) or-(2) for any bearing the evidence has on relevant matters, including the character of the defendant and acts performed in conformity with the character of the defendant.

Tex Code Crim. Proc. art. 38.37, § 2(b).

A. Appellant Preserved His Constitutional Complaint for Review

The State contends that appellant failed to preserve his constitutional" complaint for review and thus has waived this argument on appeal. The State argues that appellant objected to .the hearing, itself, not the constitutionality of the statute on substantive due process grounds.

To preserve- a complaint for appellate-review, the complaining party must make a timely objection to the trial court that states the grounds .with sufficient specificity to make the trial court aware of the complaint, unless the specific grounds are apparent from the context. Tex. R. App. P. .33.1(a)(1). The complaining party must let the trial judge know what he wants and why he thinks he is entitled to it, and do so clearly enough for .the judge to understand and at a time when the trial court is in a position to do something about it. Bekendam v. State, 441 S.W.3d 295, 300 (Tex.Crim.App.2014). Although we are not hyper-technical in examination of whether error was preserved, the error on appeal must comport with the objection made at trial. Id.

At the beginning of the hearing conducted pursuant to Section 2-a of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure and before any witness testified, defense counsel stated the following objection:

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Bluebook (online)
475 S.W.3d 395, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 8723, 2015 WL 4984560, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harris-v-state-texapp-2015.