James Anthony Kirvin v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 9, 2016
Docket05-15-00271-CR
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
James Anthony Kirvin v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion Filed August 9, 2016.

S In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-15-00271-CR

JAMES ANTHONY KIRVIN, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 59th Judicial District Court Grayson County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. 060407

MEMORANDUM OPINION Before Justices Francis, Lang-Miers, and Myers Opinion by Justice Lang-Miers A jury convicted James Anthony Kirvin of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of

indecency with a child. The trial court assessed concurrent prison sentences of forty-five years

for the aggravated sexual assault and fifteen years on each indecency count. In three issues,

appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions and asserts the

trial court erred by admitting outcry testimony and by violating his right to self-representation.

We conclude that appellant’s issues are without merit. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

This is the second trial of this case. Appellant was originally convicted in January 2013

of the charges at issue here, but this Court reversed the convictions on an evidentiary ground and

remanded for a new trial. See Kirvin v. State, No. 05-13-00332-CR, 2014 WL 4261237 (Tex. App.—Dallas Aug. 28, 2014, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication). At his second

trial, conducted in February 2015, appellant represented himself.

The evidence showed that M.G. and A.S. are distant cousins. At trial, both girls were ten

years old, but at the time of the offenses in July 2009, M.G. had just turned five and A.S. was a

few months younger. That month, they went to visit A.S.’s grandmother, Pamela, in Denison.

At the time, Pamela was living with appellant, who she later married. After returning to their

homes, the girls reported they had been molested by appellant.

M.G. testified she and A.S. wanted ice cream, but Pamela was not at home and they

asked appellant. Appellant was in the bathroom, and M.G. said she knocked on the door.

Appellant told them to come in, and when they entered, he was “standing there naked.”

According to M.G., appellant asked the girls if they wanted to “pet his puppy” or “bad spot,”

which she said was “where he uses the restroom.” M.G. used an anatomically correct doll to

identify the area for the jury and verified it was the place where a boy “goes pee pee.” When the

girls said no, M.G. said appellant “pulled us and made us touch it.” M.G. said he pulled her first

by her left arm, had her other arm behind her back, and made her touch his penis. Then, she

said, he grabbed A.S. by the arm and made her do the same.

M.G. also described a second incident that happened at night. She said she, A.S.,

Pamela, and appellant all shared a big bed. During the night, A.S. woke her up and said

“something was touching her.” M.G. saw appellant “hovering” over A.S. M.G. said she turned

on the light, and appellant turned the light off and left the room.

M.G. went home the next day and told her grandmother that appellant “was naked

standing in front of us.” She did not tell her grandmother that appellant made them touch his

penis because she was “too nervous.” She said she told Bobbie Wieck, a forensic interviewer

with the Grayson County Child Advocacy Center, about the touching.

–2– A.S. testified about three incidents that occurred when she stayed with her grandmother

and appellant. First, she said she and M.G. were watching television when appellant sat her on

his lap and started “wiggling his legs.” He asked if she liked that, and A.S. said no. A.S. said

appellant began moving her “up and down on his lap.” A.S. said “[i]t felt hard” on her “bottom,”

and she told appellant it hurt.

The second incident occurred at night. A.S. said she and M.G. were sleeping in the same

bed as appellant and her grandmother. A.S. said appellant pulled down her panties and “started

licking” her “pumpkin,” and she woke up. A.S. said appellant “put his boy part inside my

pumpkin.” She explained that her pumpkin is her “front” where she goes “to the restroom.”

Again, using a doll, she identified the area for the jury. By “boy part,” she meant the “front” part

where he goes to “pee.” A.S. said she told appellant it hurt, and he told her it was “okay” and to

go back to sleep. But A.S. said she did not sleep that night because he kept on “messing” with

her.

Finally, she described the bathroom incident but specifically denied touching appellant’s

penis. A.S. said she and M.G. went into the bathroom, where appellant was taking a shower.

She said appellant pulled back the shower curtain, and M.G. asked, “What’s that?” Appellant

asked if she wanted “to touch it.” By “it,” A.S. said she meant, “His thing. Where he pee[s].”

When M.G. said no, appellant grabbed M.G.’s hand and “made her touch it.” Appellant then

grabbed for A.S., but A.S. said she “jerked” her hand away. She said she ran to the living room,

and her grandmother was in the kitchen washing dishes at the time. A.S. said her mother was the

first person she told what happened during her visit.

Appellant represented himself at trial and cross-examined A.S. A.S. testified she and

M.G. spent two nights at his house. On the first night, she said she and M.G. slept in a second

–3– bedroom, and it was there that appellant “walked into that room and did what you did to me and

you left.” On the second night, she said they slept with appellant and her grandmother.

Three outcry witnesses testified––M.G.’s grandmother, A.S.’s mother, and the forensic

interviewer. M.G.’s grandmother, Charlene, testified M.G. had lived with her since she was

three months old. When M.G. returned home from her visit at Pamela’s house, M.G. told her

that appellant pulled on her and A.S. and asked if they wanted to “play with the puppy.”

Charlene asked what she meant, and M.G. told her appellant had his penis out. M.G. was crying

and upset. Charlene called the police and her sister, Barbara, who is Pamela’s mother and A.S.’s

great-grandmother.

A.S.’s mother, Tawanna, testified A.S. and M.G. visited Pamela over the Fourth of July

weekend. After the visit, she received a call from her grandmother, Barbara, who told her

“something happened at your mom’s house” and to not “let the kids go back over there.” She

also told her to talk to A.S. As a result of that call, Tawanna asked A.S. if appellant had ever

touched her or made her feel uncomfortable. A.S. initially said no, but Tawanna could tell she

was not being truthful. Tawanna then explained that A.S. had not done anything wrong and was

not in trouble. At that point, A.S. told her that she and M.G. wanted ice cream and went to ask

appellant, who was in the shower. The girls went into the bathroom, and appellant was naked

and asked if they wanted to touch his “puppy.” She also told Tawanna about the incident where

he moved her up and down on his lap and she felt something hard. Finally, she told Tawanna

that she awoke to find appellant groping her and “licking her like a cat.”

After A.S.’s outcry, Tawanna and her boyfriend drove to appellant’s house, where her

boyfriend “beat the crap” out of appellant and knocked out his teeth. Tawanna also testified that

her mother, Pamela, has a “learning disability” and functions at a sixth-grade level.

–4– Wieck, the forensic interviewer, interviewed both M.G. and A.S but testified to only a

portion of what M.G. reported. M.G.

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