in Re: The Commitment of Julius D. Marshall

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided September 13, 2018·No. 02-17-00452-CV·Published

Opinion

In the

Court of Appeals

Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth

No. 02-17-00452-CV

IN RE: THE COMMITMENT OF JULIUS D. MARSHALL

On Appeal from the 372nd District Court Tarrant County, Texas

Trial Court No. D372-S-13395-16

Before Sudderth, C.J.; Meier and Gabriel, JJ.

Opinion by Chief Justice Sudderth

MEMORANDUM OPINION1

In four issues, Appellant Julius D. Marshall appeals the order of civil commitment following his sexually-violent-predator civil commitment proceeding. See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 841.001 (West 2017).

In January 2007, Marshall pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault and received deferred adjudication. He quickly violated the terms of his probation, and in March 2007 he was sentenced to twelve years’ incarceration. As he approached the date of his release, the State petitioned to have him civilly committed. Two witnesses testified at the trial—Marshall and Dr. Timothy Proctor, a forensic psychologist. The jury found that Marshall was a sexually violent predator, and the trial court ordered him civilly committed. For the reasons discussed below, we affirm.

Background

I. Marshall’s childhood By all accounts, Marshall had a rough childhood. He grew up in poverty in a dangerous neighborhood in Shreveport, Louisiana. He did not know his father and was raised by his mother, aunt, and two older sisters, who exposed him to drugs, alcohol, and sex at an early age.

Likely as a result of that exposure, Marshall developed a significant drug problem at an early age. He testified that he started smoking and drinking when he

See Tex. R. App. P. 47.4.

was only five years old and began using heavy drugs to “escape reality” when he was eight or nine. At trial, he admitted to having used acid, marijuana, alcohol, and prescription pills over the years and testified that he drank alcohol and used marijuana every day and ecstasy and cocaine every weekend.

In addition to his substance abuse problems, Marshall became involved with gang culture early on and displayed a number of behavioral problems as a child. When he was eight, he became involved with the Crips and damaged and vandalized property, including one instance when he set a dumpster on fire for fun. When he was nine, he was arrested for stealing and spent three months in juvenile detention. By the time he was eleven, he became an official member of the Crips. He was in and out of school—he was kicked out of school in sixth grade after he broke a classmate’s arm in a fight and was kicked out of school again in eighth grade when he broke a classmate’s leg during another fight. He was sent to juvenile detention a second time after being charged with assault in connection with the eighth-grade fight and he was placed on probation for a term intended to last until he was 21 years old. But Marshall continued to get in trouble for truancy, theft, and running away from home, and he was involved in gang-related violence.

II. The 2007 sexual assault convictions Marshall moved to Texas when he was 17 and soon after, he sexually assaulted two women, Alicia2 and Brandy.

According to Proctor’s review of the offense records, Alicia was an 18-year-old woman of “low mental functioning,” and Marshall forced her to have sex with him at least twice and attempted to force her to have sex with him on another occasion. Proctor testified that the records indicated “that [Marshall] used force and that there was an instance that . . . occurred on a playground where he forced down her pants and forced her to bend over and forced sex on her from behind.” Alicia became pregnant after the incident. While Marshall reportedly told Proctor that Alicia’s mental functioning was “overblown,” Proctor testified based on his review of a recorded statement made by Alicia in 2005 that “it was obvious . . . that she was somebody of low mental functioning.” He noted that Alicia could not identify her address or what street she lived on when asked for that information by the police in the interview.

At the civil commitment trial, Marshall claimed that at the time of the incident, Alicia had been his girlfriend for about eight months and the sex was consensual, which contradicted the guilty plea he entered to the sexual assault charge in 2007. It

2 To protect Alicia’s and Brandy’s anonymity, we use aliases. See McClendon v.

State, 643 S.W.2d 936, 936 n.1 (Tex. Crim. App. [Panel Op.] 1982).

also contradicted offense records reporting Alicia’s statements that she was not interested in Marshall and they were not dating.

Marshall’s sexual assault of Brandy took place shortly after his September 2005 assault of Alicia. Around 3:00 a.m. on Christmas morning in 2005, Marshall assaulted Brandy, a prostitute, by grabbing her as she walked down the street, pulling her to the side, forcing off her pants and shoes, and forcing her to engage in sex with him. According to records, a witness heard Brandy screaming and “heard him saying things that suggested force,” such as “shut up and take my dick,” and the witness called 911. Marshall admitted that he had sex with Brandy but denied that he did so by force. In Marshall’s version of events, he had had sex with Brandy before, sometimes in exchange for drugs and other times when he paid her, and the Christmas morning incident was no different—he claimed that he offered Brandy drugs in exchange for sex. According to Proctor, Brandy denied knowing Marshall.

In January 2007, Marshall pleaded guilty to both charges of sexual assault and received deferred adjudication. His freedom was short-lived, as his probation was revoked in March 2007 for his failure to register as a sex offender and for testing positive for marijuana and alcohol use. He was sentenced to twelve years’ confinement for each sexual assault charge and to five years’ confinement for the separate charge of failing to register as a sex offender.

III. Marshall’s behavior in prison Marshall developed a lengthy disciplinary record while serving his time in prison. According to Proctor’s review, Marshall’s prison records included 90 major disciplinary cases, and Marshall admitted that these infractions included fighting, refusing to obey orders, creating disturbances, refusing to work, being out of place, possessing contraband, possessing tobacco products, testing positive for marijuana, stealing, and sexual misconduct. Marshall admitted that he threatened to harm correctional officers and that he even broke a correctional officer’s jaw by repeatedly punching him during a fight. His drug use continued—he admitted to smoking marijuana daily and to using K2 on occasion while in prison—and he continued to be involved in gang activity.

At least 26 of Marshall’s disciplinary infractions were for sexual misconduct.

Proctor testified that Marshall had intentionally exposed himself and masturbated in front of other people in prison, particularly female correctional officers. Marshall admitted at trial that he purposely masturbated in front of female correctional officers as often as twice a week and that, in his opinion, some of the female officers “entice[d him] into masturbating.” He also admitted that he was not written up for every instance of his masturbating in front of officers. According to Proctor, this behavior was continuous throughout Marshall’s incarceration, through various prison units and toward different correctional officers, and as a result Marshall was only allowed to

have “[v]ery limited” exposure to women in prison and no contact with female civilians.

Despite his history of misconduct and his admission that he masturbated in the past as often as two or three times a day, Marshall denied having a high sex drive. He also denied having a problem with masturbation, but he answered “Yes, obviously,” when asked if he wished he masturbated less.

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