in Re Commitment of James Grinstead

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 15, 2009
Docket09-07-00412-CV
StatusPublished

This text of in Re Commitment of James Grinstead (in Re Commitment of James Grinstead) 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 James Grinstead, (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

In The



Court of Appeals



Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont



____________________



NO. 09-07-00412-CV



IN RE COMMITMENT OF JAMES GRINSTEAD



On Appeal from the 221st District Court

Montgomery County, Texas

Trial Cause No. 07-02-02125-CV



MEMORANDUM OPINION

The State of Texas filed a petition to commit James Grinstead as a sexually violent predator under the Sexually Violent Predator Act (the "Act"). See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §§841.001-.150 (Vernon 2003 & Supp. 2008). A jury found Grinstead to be a repeat sexually violent predator who suffers from a behavior abnormality making him likely to engage in a predatory act of sexual violence. See id. The trial court entered a final judgment and order of civil commitment under the Act. Grinstead asserts two issues on appeal. He contends that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the jury's verdict and that the trial judge erred in failing to strike certain expert testimony. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

LEGAL AND FACTUAL SUFFICIENCY

In issue one, Grinstead contends that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to establish that he has serious difficulty controlling his behavior. In In re Commitment of Gollihar, the court stated,

Because the statute employs a beyond-a-reasonable-doubt-standard, on appeal we review legal sufficiency issues by the standard of review applied in criminal cases for legal sufficiency of the evidence. To test the legal sufficiency of the evidence that supports an affirmative jury finding, we review all of the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict.



In re Commitment of Gollihar, 224 S.W.3d 843, 846 (Tex. App.--Beaumont 2007, no pet.) (citations omitted). In the present case, we review the evidence presented at trial to determine if a rational jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Grinstead has serious difficulty controlling his behavior. See id.

We will also apply the factual sufficiency standard applied in criminal cases with respect to our factual sufficiency review in the present case. Id. Viewing the evidence in a neutral light, we will determine whether a jury was rationally justified in finding guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. See id. (citing Watson v. State, 204 S.W.3d 404, 415 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006)). "To reverse a case on a factual sufficiency challenge, we must be able to say that the great weight and preponderance of the evidence contradicts the jury's verdict or that the verdict is clearly wrong or manifestly unjust." Id. (citing Marshall v. State, 210 S.W.3d 618, 625 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006)).

Evidence Presented at Trial

James Grinstead testified at trial by video deposition. In his deposition he admitted to three of the seven sexual offenses in the record. Grinstead testified that he committed the sexual assaults because he felt he had no control over his life. According to Grinstead, the sexual assaults met his need for power and control. He testified that he manipulated the young girls he victimized, and that he chose them because they were younger and weaker.

With respect to the first sexual assault, Grinstead testified that when he was around fourteen years old he saw a young girl who he believed to be about six years-old playing across the street from his grandmother's house. He described how he got the young girl alone in the garage by playing basketball with her. Grinstead testified that after he got her into the garage he fondled her and attempted to penetrate her vaginally. At his deposition he did not recall whether he performed oral sex on the victim and testified that he asked her to perform oral sex on him and she said no. Grinstead admitted that when he attempted vaginal penetration there was some bleeding, however, he denied prior police reports indicating that he wiped off the blood and continued sexually assaulting the young girl. Grinstead testified that at the time he committed the offense he knew it was wrong, but he told himself that it wasn't.

Grinstead stated that his second sexual assault occurred roughly a year later against another six or seven year-old girl. He admitted to sexually assaulting his second victim on two separate occasions. He explained that both sexual assaults against his second victim took place during the day time. He stated that the first assault took place while his mother was babysitting the young girl at his house. He got the young girl alone in his backyard, fondled her, and attempted to penetrate her vaginally but was unable to do so. Grinstead testified that he had just finished smoking marijuana when he assaulted her the second time. He felt that "since [he] had victimized her the first time and got some of [his] need for power and control met [he] could do it again." This time Grinstead got the young girl alone in her backyard by playing soccer with her and then began to fondle her. Grinstead stated that he was caught fondling the young girl by a neighbor. He stated that he never worried about getting caught when he was committing the offenses.

He was arrested for the sexual offenses committed against his second victim and confessed to the sexual assault he committed against his first victim. As a result of his sexual offenses Grinstead was sent to the Texas Youth Commission ("TYC") at the age of fifteen where he was incarcerated for four years. While Grinstead contended that he changed his life while incarcerated in TYC, he admitted that he "had an authority problem" during his time there and that the staff would describe him as a "bad student by acting out."

Grinstead stated that after being released from TYC he resumed using alcohol and drugs. Significantly, he was only out of TYC for a little over a year when he was charged with another sexual assault, this time against a nineteen year-old female. (1) Grinstead pleaded guilty to this assault and was sentenced to four years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Institutional Division. With respect to this third victim, Grinstead testified at his deposition that he did have sexual contact with her in a family restroom at the mall, however he stated that it was consensual.

In addition to testifying about his sexual offenses, Grinstead admitted to engaging in cruelty to animals both before and after being sent to TYC. His cruelty to animals included engaging in sexual acts with a dog, cutting up a cat, and dangling kittens in front of dogs and then turning them loose. He also testified about a homosexual relationship he had in prison.

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Related

Kansas v. Crane
534 U.S. 407 (Supreme Court, 2002)
In Re the Commitment of Barbee
192 S.W.3d 835 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Watson v. State
204 S.W.3d 404 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
In Re Commitment of Almaguer
117 S.W.3d 500 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)
In Re Commitment of Gollihar
224 S.W.3d 843 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Dinkins v. State
894 S.W.2d 330 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1995)
In Re Commitment of Mullens
92 S.W.3d 881 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Aluminum Chemicals (Bolivia), Inc. v. Bechtel Corp.
28 S.W.3d 64 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Farm Services, Inc. v. Gonzales
756 S.W.2d 747 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1988)
In Re Commitment of Morales
98 S.W.3d 288 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Lacour v. State
8 S.W.3d 670 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Marshall v. State
210 S.W.3d 618 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Losada v. State
721 S.W.2d 305 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Barnes v. State
876 S.W.2d 316 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Perry v. State
957 S.W.2d 894 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1997)

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