In Re TEG

222 S.W.3d 677, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 2255, 2007 WL 865813
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 22, 2007
Docket11-05-00397-CV
StatusPublished

This text of 222 S.W.3d 677 (In Re TEG) 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 TEG, 222 S.W.3d 677, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 2255, 2007 WL 865813 (Tex. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

222 S.W.3d 677 (2007)

In the Matter of T.E.G.

No. 11-05-00397-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Eastland.

March 22, 2007.

*678 J.K.(Rusty) Wall, Midland, for appellant.

Al Schorre, District Attorney, Aaron M. Pier, Assistant Dist. Atty's Office, Midland, for appellee.

Panel consists of WRIGHT, C.J., McCALL, J., and STRANGE, J.

OPINION

TERRY McCALL, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment adjudicating a juvenile of delinquent conduct. TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 51.03 (Vernon Supp. 2006) defines delinquent conduct as "conduct, other than a traffic offense, that violates a penal law of this state or of the United States punishable by imprisonment or by confinement in jail." The jury found that T.E.G. engaged in delinquent conduct by causing bodily injury to Joe Limon on September 21, 2004, and by causing injury to a child, Bay Wilson, on September 1, 2005. TEX. PEN.CODE ANN. § 22.01 (Vernon Supp.2006). In a single point of error, appellant asserts that the State's evidence of its reasonable effort to prevent removal of appellant from his home was legally and factually insufficient and did not support the court's decision to commit appellant to the Texas Youth Commission (TYC). TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 54.04(i)(1)(B) (Vernon Supp.2006). We affirm.

Standard of Review

The adjudication of a juvenile as a delinquent is based on the criminal burden of proof: beyond a reasonable doubt. TEX. FAM.CODE ANN. § 54.03(f) (Vernon Supp. 2006). Therefore, we apply the same standards of review to challenges of the sufficiency of the evidence in the adjudication of a juvenile as we do in criminal cases. In re L.F.L.T.B., 137 S.W.3d 856, 858 (Tex. App.-Eastland 2004, no pet.). The challenge in this appeal, however, is to the sufficiency of the evidence in the disposition phase of the juvenile proceeding.

In reviewing a disposition order in a juvenile case, the majority of courts have declined to apply the criminal legal and factual sufficiency standards of review. In re C.G., 162 S.W.3d 448, 452 (Tex.App.-Dallas 2005, no pet.) (applying the civil standards); In re H.R.C., 153 S.W.3d 266, 269 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2004, no pet.); In re J.D.P., 85 S.W.3d 420, 426 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2002, no pet.); In re T.K.E., 5 S.W.3d 782, 785 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1999, no pet.); In re K.L.C., 972 S.W.2d 203, 206 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 1998, no pet.); but see In re C.C., 13 S.W.3d 854, 858 (Tex.App.-Austin 2000, no pet.) (applying the criminal standards of review to a disposition). We will follow the civil standards in reviewing the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence supporting a *679 juvenile court's disposition decision. In Section 54.03(f), the legislature mandated that findings supporting an adjudication of delinquency must be beyond a reasonable doubt. In Section 54.04, the legislature did not require the findings for disposition of a juvenile to be supported by proof beyond a reasonable doubt. See TEX. FAM. CODE ANN. § 54.04 (Vernon Supp.2006).

A juvenile court has broad discretion in determining a suitable disposition for a child who has been adjudicated as having engaged in delinquent conduct. In re C.G., 162 S.W.3d at 452; In re T.A.F., 977 S.W.2d 386, 387 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1998, no pet.); In re A.S., 954 S.W.2d 855, 861 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1997, no pet.). Absent an abuse of discretion, the reviewing court will not disturb the juvenile court's determination. In re C.G., 162 S.W.3d at 452; In re T.A.F., 977 S.W.2d at 387. The test for abuse of discretion is whether the court acted arbitrarily or unreasonably-that is, without reference to guiding rules and principles. In re T.A.F., 977 S.W.2d at 387; In the Interest of S.B.C., 952 S.W.2d 15, 17 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 1997, no writ). Under an abuse of discretion standard, legal and factual sufficiency are relevant factors in assessing whether the trial court abused its discretion. In re C.G., 162 S.W.3d at 452.

The guiding principles for committing a child to TYC are provided in the Texas Family Code. When a court places a child on probation outside the child's home or commits a child to TYC, the court must include in its order its determination that it is in the child's best interests to be placed outside the child's home; reasonable efforts were made to prevent or eliminate the need for the child's removal from the home and to make it possible for the child to return to the child's home; and the child, in the child's home, cannot be provided the quality of care and level of support and supervision that the child needs to meet the conditions of probation. Section 54.04(i). The trial court's order in this case included these three findings. Appellant argues that the State presented legally and factually insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the state made reasonable efforts to prevent or eliminate the need for appellant's removal from his home.

The supreme court in City of Keller v. Wilson, 168 S.W.3d 802 (Tex.2005), reviewed how an appellate court should analyze a legal sufficiency challenge to a jury verdict. The supreme court stated that "[t]he final test for legal sufficiency must always be whether the evidence at trial would enable reasonable and fair-minded people to reach the verdict under review." Id. at 827. Instead of the jury, the juvenile court was the trier of fact at the disposition hearing in this case. In our review for abuse of discretion, we apply the City of Keller requirements in our legal sufficiency analysis of the juvenile court's fact findings: we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the findings and indulge every reasonable inference that supports them; we credit favorable evidence if a reasonable trier of fact could and disregard contrary evidence unless a reasonable trier of fact could not; we recognize that the trier of fact is the sole judge of the witnesses' credibility and the weight to be given their testimony; and we cannot substitute our judgment for that of the trier of fact so long as the evidence falls within the zone of reasonable disagreement. City of Keller, 168 S.W.3d at 821-28. Also, in reviewing for abuse of discretion with respect to the factual sufficiency of the evidence, we consider and weigh all the evidence and set aside a juvenile court's determination only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Cain v. Bain, 709 S.W.2d 175, 176 *680 (Tex.1986); In re J.D.P., 85 S.W.3d at 426; In re T.K.E., 5 S.W.3d at 785.

Background and the Disposition Hearing Testimony

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Related

City of Keller v. Wilson
168 S.W.3d 802 (Texas Supreme Court, 2005)
In Interest of S.B.C.
952 S.W.2d 15 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Cain v. Bain
709 S.W.2d 175 (Texas Supreme Court, 1986)
In the Matter of H.R.C., a Juvenile
153 S.W.3d 266 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004)
in the Matter of L.F.L.T.B., a Juvenile
137 S.W.3d 856 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2004)
In re A.S.
954 S.W.2d 855 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Matter of K.L.C.
972 S.W.2d 203 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Matter of T.A.F.
977 S.W.2d 386 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998)
In the Matter of T.K.E.
5 S.W.3d 782 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
In Re C. C.
13 S.W.3d 854 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2000)
In re J.D.P.
85 S.W.3d 420 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
In re C.G.
162 S.W.3d 448 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
In re T.E.G.
222 S.W.3d 677 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2007)

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Bluebook (online)
222 S.W.3d 677, 2007 Tex. App. LEXIS 2255, 2007 WL 865813, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-teg-texapp-2007.