In re M.P.

126 S.W.3d 228
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 5, 2003
DocketNo. 04-02-00921-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 126 S.W.3d 228 (In re M.P.) 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 M.P., 126 S.W.3d 228 (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

CATHERINE STONE, Justice.

A jury found appellant, M.P., guilty of engaging in delinquent conduct by committing aggravated sexual assault. The trial judge sentenced M.P. to the Texas Youth Commission until he is twenty-one years old and required that M.P. register as a sex offender and give a blood sample for the DNA data bank. M.P. argues on appeal that the trial court erred in submitting a jury charge that allowed a conviction on less than a unanimous verdict.

Factual and PROCEDURAL Background

In August 2001, M.R.1 told her mother, Evelyn, about incidents of sexual abuse that occurred at the home of M.P.’s mother, Delores Nichols. Delores Nichols babysat Evelyn’s children for a week in July of 2001. Evelyn testified as an outcry witness for M.R. explaining that M.P. made M.R. engage in oral penetration, and that he rubbed his sexual organ on her vaginal and anal areas. M.R. and her brother, Nathanial, also testified about these allegations.

The State prosecuted M.P. as a juvenile, charging him with engaging in delinquent conduct of aggravated sexual assault. The charged offense included four paragraphs stated in the disjunctive as to the type of sexual assault. The following paragraphs are briefly captioned below:

Paragraph A: M.P. caused the penetration of the mouth of M.R. by placing his sexual organ in M.R.’s mouth, or
Paragraph B: M.P. caused the mouth of M.R. to contact his sexual organ, or
Paragraph C: M.P. caused the anus of M.R. to contact his sexual organ, or
[230]*230Paragraph D: M.P. caused the sexual organ of M.R. to contact his sexual organ.

Discussion

M.P. argues the jury charge contained separate and distinct offenses in a disjunctive manner versus one offense with various methods of committing that offense. Therefore, M.P. states the charge allowed a conviction on less than a unanimous jury verdict.

Preservation of Error

The Rules of Civil Procedure govern this area of juvenile proceedings unless there is a conflict within the Texas Family Code. Tex. Fam.Code Ann. § 51.17(a) (Vernon 2002); In the Matter of M.R., 858 S.W.2d 365, 366 (Tex.1993); In the Matter of P.L.W. v. State, 851 S.W.2d 383, 386 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1993, no writ). Since there is not a specific Code provision governing jury charges in juvenile cases, the Rules of Civil Procedure apply. In the Matter of A.A.B., 110 S.W.3d 553, 555-56 (Tex.App.-Waco 2003, no pet.).

This appeal concerns a request for an additional jury charge instruction, which Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 278 governs. Under Rule 278, the requesting party “is required to request and tender to the trial court a substantially correct instruction in writing when the trial court omits the instruction from the jury charge.” Mason v. S. Pacific Transp. Co., 892 S.W.2d 115, 117 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1994, pet. denied); see Tex.R. Civ. P. 278.2 However, Rule 278 must be read “in connection with Texas Supreme Court precedent addressing preservation of error in jury charges.” Green Tree Fin. Corp. v. Garcia, 988 S.W.2d 776, 781 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1999, no pet.). The Texas Supreme Court has stated that there “should be but one test for determining if a party has preserved error in the jury charge, and that is whether the party made the trial court aware of the complaint, timely and plainly, and obtained a ruling.” State Dept. of Highways v. Payne, 838 S.W.2d 235, 241 (Tex.1992). In addition, Texas courts since Payne have emphasized the importance of common sense and substance over form when analyzing Rule 278. See Green Tree Fin. Corp., 988 S.W.2d at 781.

During a break in M.P.’s case, the trial judge asked both parties if there were any objections to the proposed jury charge. M.P.’s counsel stated the following:

Mr. Young: Yes, your Honor. I have one request for an addition. I would ask that — on page seven, prior to the proof that begins, ‘In the event you have a reasonable doubt as to whether’ — I would ask that we add an instruction that makes clear to the jury that of the four alternative physical acts that are alleged, that they have to be unanimous in selecting one of those physical acts as the — the crime that was committed.
My proposed instruction would read, ‘As to the four alternative acts presented in paragraph, Roman numeral four, you must agree unanimously that at least one of these alternatives is true beyond a reasonable doubt to find that respondent engaged in delinquent conduct.’
‘If you do not unanimously find beyond a reasonable doubt that respondent committed one of these alternative alleged acts, you must find that [231]*231he did not engage in delinquent conduct.’
The Court: Okay. That’s denied.

After closing arguments, M.P.’s counsel asked to approach the bench and the following exchange took place:

Mr. Young: I just want to make sure I preserve the issue that I object to the lack of instruction to the prosecution’s allegations about the one paragraph—
The Court: It’s overruled.

M.P.’s counsel made the trial court aware of his request, timely and plainly, with his oral dictation in the record of his exact request and with his repeated objection after closing arguments. Therefore, M.P. did preserve error as to the requested jury instruction under the common sense Payne approach.

Jury Charge Error

Texas Penal Code section 22.021 lists the various ways to commit sexual assault in the disjunctive as separate and distinct offenses. See Vick v. State, 991 S.W.2d 830, 833 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). It has been concluded that the Legislature intended each separately described act of sexual conduct within section 22.021 to constitute a distinct statutory offense to be punished separately even if such acts occur in close temporal proximity. Id. Although the State may provide alternate legal theories for one criminal offense, aggravated sexual assault can include multiple statutory offenses in just one transaction. See id. at 834.

The jury convicted M.P. of the offense of delinquent conduct of aggravated sexual assault by choosing between disjunctive paragraphs advocated as alternate means of committing the offense. However, these “alternate means” were indeed separate offenses as stated in section 22.021. See id. at 833; see Tex. Pen.Code Ann. § 22.021 (Vernon Supp.2003). In this regard, the instant case is very similar to Francis v. State

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

Related

in the Interest of J.M.H., a Child
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2022
in the Matter of A. C.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Aghil Ansari v. State
511 S.W.3d 262 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
in the Matter of R.D.R. III, a Juvenile
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2014
In the Matter of I.L., a Juvenile
389 S.W.3d 445 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012)
in the Matter of I. L., a Juvenile
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Jose Perez v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
In re L.D.C.
357 S.W.3d 124 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
in the Matter of L.D.C., a Child
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
in the Matter of A.C., a Juvenile
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
in the Matter of F.L.R., a Juvenile
293 S.W.3d 278 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
In Re FLR
293 S.W.3d 278 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
In Re Rd
304 S.W.3d 424 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
In the Matter of R.D., a Juvenile
304 S.W.3d 424 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
in the Matter of R. D., a Juvenile
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Gonzalez Soto v. State
267 S.W.3d 327 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Manuel Gonzalez Soto v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Barry Louis Pizzo v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
in the Matter of E.C.D., Jr.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
126 S.W.3d 228, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-mp-texapp-2003.