In Re Commitment of Adams

122 S.W.3d 451, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 10417, 2003 WL 22922662
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 11, 2003
Docket09-03-003 CV
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 122 S.W.3d 451 (In Re Commitment of Adams) 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
In Re Commitment of Adams, 122 S.W.3d 451, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 10417, 2003 WL 22922662 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinions

OPINION

STEVE McKEITHEN, Chief Justice.

The State of Texas filed a petition to commit Curtis L. Adams as a sexually violent predator. See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §§ 841.001-.147 (Vernon 2003). A jury found Adams suffers from a behavioral abnormality making him likely to engage in a predatory act of sexual violence. The trial court entered a final judgment and order of civil commitment. Adams raises five issues on appeal. He does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury’s finding.

Adams presents constitutional challenges in his first three issues. Adams first issue contends that Chapter 841 of the Texas Health and Safety Code is unconstitutionally punitive in nature. He relies upon the factors set forth in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144, 168-69, 83 S.Ct. 554, 9 L.Ed.2d 644 (1963). We have repeatedly rejected similar arguments in other Chapter 841 commitment cases. See Beasley v. Molett, 95 S.W.3d 590, 607-10 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2002, pet. filed); see also In re Commitment of Almaguer, 117 S.W.3d 500, 502 (Tex.App.Beaumont 2003, no pet. h.); In re Commitment of Graham, 117 S.W.3d 514, 514-15 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2003, no pet. h.); In re Commitment of Shaw, 117 S.W.3d 520, 522-24 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2003, no pet. h.); In re Commitment of Mullens, 92 S.W.3d 881, 883-84 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2002, pet. filed). The precise arguments and authorities in Adams’s brief were presented in Graham. Furthermore, Adams does not identify any particular circumstances appearing in the record that would support an argument that Chapter 841 operates unconstitutionally as applied to him notwithstanding its general constitutionality. Because we find the statute in question to be facially constitutional, in accordance with our precedents, issue one is overruled.

Adams’s second issue claims that due process was violated when the trial court refused to submit the issue of volitional control to the jury. A divided Court recently decided this issue adversely to Adams. Almaguer, 117 S.W.3d at 502-506; Graham, 117 S.W.3d at 515; Shaw, 117 S.W.3d at 524-25. In all three cases, we held that the definitions provided by the trial court adequately presented the issue to the jury and thus satisfied due process. Almaguer, 117 S.W.3d at 505; Graham, 117 S.W.3d at 515; Shaw, 117 S.W.3d at 524. Because a separate instruction on volitional control is not required [453]*453under Kansas v. Crane, 534 U.S. 407, 122 S.Ct. 867, 151 L.Ed.2d 856 (2002), issue two is overruled.

The third constitutional challenge urges that Chapter 841, Texas Health and Safety Code, is unconstitutionally vague and violates the separation of powers doctrine. The identical arguments and authorities raised in Adams’s brief were raised in Almaguer, Graham, and Shaw. Those cases, in turn, continued the precedent set in earlier cases from this Court. See Beasley, 95 S.W.3d at 607-10; see also In re Commitment of Morales, 98 S.W.3d 288, 291 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2003, pet. filed); Mullens, 92 S.W.3d at 883-84, 887-88. Based on our previous decisions, we overrule issue three.

The remaining issues address the admission of Adams’s penitentiary records, or “pen packets.” In issue four, Adams complains that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of his two prior convictions for sexual offenses when appellant stipulated to them. The State accepted Adams’s offer to stipulate to the two prior convictions for sexual offenses required to establish Adams’s status as a sexually violent predator. See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 841.003(a)(1),(b) (Vernon 2003).1 The State then offered, and the trial court admitted, Adams’s prison records.2 Adams objected to the exhibits as a whole and to particular non-sexual offenses documented within the exhibits on grounds of lack of relevance and unfair prejudice. See Tex.R. Evid. 401-03.

By judicially admitting to having two prior convictions for sexual assault, Adams relieved the State of the burden of submitting evidence to prove that Adams is a repeat sexually violent predator. However, the State offered the penitentiary packets for the purpose of satisfying the other element of Section 841.003; namely, that Adams suffers from a behavioral abnormality that makes the person likely to engage in a predatory act of sexual violence. See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 841.003(a)(2) (Vernon 2003). A stipulation to the fact of the previous convictions did not remove that issue from controversy. On appeal Adams argues that “Focusing on past convictions does not make the existence of a current behavioral abnormality more or less probable.” Evidence in the record refutes that argument. Two health care professionals testified in the State’s case in chief. The psychologist testified that, in the context of antisocial personality disorder, previous behavior is always considered to be the best predictor of future behavior. The convictions described in the penitentiary packets provided the basis for the experts’ diagnoses of Adams’s antisocial personality disorder and, according to the psychiatrist, sexual sadism. According to the psychologist, antisocial personality disorder is longstanding and chronic. Adams is not a pedophile but the impulsiveness marking his mental disorder makes Adams likely to recidivate by committing a sexual offense based upon the circumstances, opportunities, and his emotional state at the time. We hold that the penitentiary packets made a fact in controversy more probable or less probable, and thus were relevant.

Next, Adams argues that the exhibits in question were unfairly prejudicial because [454]*454they focused the jury on the prior convictions or on Adams’s bad character. He argues that his situation is analogous to criminal cases in which the defendant stipulates to the prior convictions that satisfy the jurisdictional requirement for felony driving while intoxicated or permit a defendant to be prosecuted as a felon in possession of a firearm. See Tamez v. State, 11 S.W.3d 198, 202 (Tex.Crim.App.2000) (citing Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 192, 117 S.Ct. 644, 655-56, 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997)).3 In Tamez, the State introduced evidence of six prior convictions for driving while intoxicated that were relevant only to establish the two prior convictions required for felony jurisdiction. Id. By refusing to permit the stipulation, the trial court in Tamez allowed evidence to reach the jury that was substantially more prejudicial than probative. Id. Tamez

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

Related

in Re Curtis Adams
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
in Re Commitment of Willie Brooks
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
In Re the Care & Treatment of Miller
210 P.3d 625 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2009)
In Re the Care & Treatment of Miller
186 P.3d 201 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2008)
Adams v. State
222 S.W.3d 37 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Curtis L. Adams v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005
in Re: The Commitment of Luis Castillo
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
In Re Commitment of Castillo
144 S.W.3d 655 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004)
in Re: The Commitment of James Richards
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
in Re: The Commitment of Bryan David Webb
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
in Re: The Commitment of Robert J. Reedy
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004
In Re Commitment of Adams
122 S.W.3d 451 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
122 S.W.3d 451, 2003 Tex. App. LEXIS 10417, 2003 WL 22922662, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-commitment-of-adams-texapp-2003.